UC-NRLF 


December  10,  1(,)10. 


U.  S.  DEPARTMENT  OF   AGRICULTURE, 

FOREST   SERVICE— BULLETIN   83. 


HENRY  S.  GRAVES,  Forester. 


THE  FOREST  RESOURCES   OF 
THE   WORLD. 


BY 

RAPHAEL   ZON; 

CHIEF  OF  SILVICS. 


WASHINGTON: 

GOVERNMENT    PRINTING    OFFICE. 
1910. 


Issued  December  10, 1910. 

U.  S.  DEPARTMENT  OF   AGRICULTURE, 

FOREST   SERVICE  — BULLETIN   83. 

HENRY  S.  GRAVES,  Forester. 


THE  FOREST  RESOURCES   OF 
THE  WORLD. 


BY 

RAPHAEL   ZON, 

CHIEF  OF  SILVICS. 


WASHINGTON: 

GOVERNMENT    PRINTING    OFFICE, 
1910. 


U.  S.  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE, 

FOREST  SERVICE, 

Washington,  D.  C.,  October  12,  1910. 

SIR:  I  have  the  honor  to  transmit  herewith  a  manuscript  entitled 
"The  Forest  Resources  of  the  World,"  by  Raphael  Zon,  Chief  of  the 
Office  of  Silvics,  and  to  recommend  its  publication  as  Bulletin  83  of 
the  Forest  Service. 
Respectfully, 

HENRY  S.  GRAVES, 
HON.  JAMES  WILSON,  Forester. 

Secretary  of  Agriculture . 
2 

-'iain  Li 


si 


CONTENTS. 


Page. 

The  situation 5 

In  European  countries 6 

In  non-European  countries 7 

Forest  resources  by  countries 9 

Austria 9 

Hungary 13 

Bosnia  and  Herzegovina., '. 15 

Annual  cut  and  consumption  for  the  Empire  of  Austria-Hungary 15 

Canada 16 

Russia 18 

Finland 21 

Sweden 22 

Norway 26 

British  India 27 

Roumania 29 

Japan 30 

The  United  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland 32 

Germany 35 

France "45 

Belgium 48 

Spam  and  Portugal 49 

Italy 50 

The  Netherlands 51 

Switzerland : 52 

Denmark 54 

Bulgaria 55 

Servia 56 

Greece 56 

Turkey 57 

Asia 57 

China 57 

Persia 58 

British  possessions  in  Asia 58 

French  possessions  in  Asia 59 

'    Dutch  possessions  in  Asia 59 

Australia  and  Oceania 7 '      59 

Hawaii .' 61 

Africa 61 

French  possessions  in  Africa 61 

British  possessions  in  Africa 62 

The  Sahara  and  Equatorial  Zone ,     62 

Central  and  South  America 63 

Mexico 63 

Central  America 64 

South  America 64 

West  Indies..... 66 

Forest  resources  of  the  United  States  and  how  they  compare  with  those  of  other 

countries 67 

Forest  area 67 

Composition , 69 

Present  stand 70 

Annual  consumption 71 

344239  3 


4  CONTENTS. 

Page. 

How  far  can  the  United  States  count  on  supplies  from  abroad  ? 73 

Division  into  exporting  and  importing  countries 75 

Importing  countries 75 

Europe 75 

Exporting  countries 79 

Europe 79 

Africa 83 

Asia  (exclusive  of  Siberia) 84 

Australasia 86 

Tropical  and  South  America 87 

North  America 87 

Conclusion 88 

References 89 


THE  FOREST  RESOURCES  OF  THE  WORLD. 


THE    SITUATION. 

Under  present  economic  conditions,  there  is  scarcely  a  civilized 
country  Which  economically  is  entirely  independent  of  all  other  coun- 
tries. The  life  of  all  nations  is  now  closely  interwoven;  and  even 
countries  like  the  United  States  or  Russia,  which  contain  within 
their  borders  practically  all  natural  resources  necessary  to  make  them 
independent  in  every  respect,  are  constantly  interchanging  their 
products  with  the  rest  of  the  world. 

It  is  therefore  impossible  to  form  a  clear  idea  of  the  possibilities 
of  a  country  and  its  future  development  without  taking  into  account 
the  natural  resources  and  the  general  economic  conditions  of  other 
countries  with  which  it  comes  in  contact.  Highly  developed  means 
of  transportation  make  it  often  more  profitable  to  obtain  certain 
products  from  a  country  which  for  some  reason  is  best  able  to  pro- 
duce them  than  to  manufacture  them  at  home,  even  though  it  is 
possible  to  do  so. 

A  country  deprived  of  certain  natural  resources  may  still  be  pros- 
perous and  progressive,  because  it  is  able  to  obtain  all  that  it  needs 
from  other  countries  which  have  a  surplus  of  the  products,  which  it 
lacks.  The  British  Isles  are  the  most  striking  example  of  this. 
With  comparatively  limited  natural  resources  and  high  consump- 
tion of  timber,  grain,  and  other  raw  material,  England  has  highly 
developed  industries  which  enable  her  to  exchange  her  finished 
products  for  the  raw  materials  she  needs.  This  in  a  general  way 
holds  good  for  forest  resources,  but  with  this  difference:  Forests  not 
only  produce  timber,  but  play  an  important  part  in  the  life  of  every 
nation  by  exercising  an  influence  on  the  water  supplies;  on  agricul- 
ture, and  the  general  health  of  the  people.  For  this  reason  only  a 
few  countries  with  an  insular  climate,  as  England  and  Holland,  may 
with  impunity  reduce  their  forest  areas  beyond  a  certain  safety  limit. 
Ordinarily  a  country  with  a  forest  area  of  20  per  cent  or  less  shows 
to  a  marked  degree  bad  climatic  conditions,  with  prolonged  droughts, 
frosts,  and  alternating  floods  and  low  water.  Portugal  with  a  forest 
area  of  only  5  per  cent  of  the  total  land  area,  Spain  with  13  per 
cent,  Greece  with  13  per  cent,  Turkey  with  20  per  .cent,  Italy  with 
14  per  cent,  are  good  examples  of  this. 

In  considering  the  forest  resources  of  the  United  States  it  seems 
necessary,  therefore,  to  take  into  account  also  the  forest  resources 
of  all  other  countries  in  order  to  determine  the  extent  to  which  the 
United  States  can  depend,  in  case  of  exhaustion  of  its  own  timber, 
upon  the  resources  of  other  countries,  or  to  determine  the  part  which 
it  plays  and  will  play  in  supplying  the  needs  of  other  countries  in 
forest  products. 

There  is  still  another  reason  why  it  is  important  in  considering  the 
forest  resources  of  the  United  States  to  study  also  the  forests  and 
economic  conditions  of  other  countries.  There  is  a  certain  inter- 
relationship between  the  extent  and  condition  of  the  natural  resources 


6 


FOREST  .RESOURCES  OF  THE  WORLD. 


and  their  use.  \  tegtory* clearly  shows  that  in  countries  with  abundant 
natural  resource's*  and  sparse  population  there  is  no  thought  of  the 
future,  and  all  energy  is  directed  to  the  exploitation  and  reckless  use 
of  what  nature  has  abundantly  provided.  The  waste  under  such 
conditions  is  naturally  very  great  and  a  more  economic  utilization 
does  not  pay.  As  the  population  increases  and  industry  grows,  the 
demand  for  raw  material  of  all  kinds  increases,  and  there  is  a  gradual 
awakening  of  public  opinion  to  the  need  of  a  more  careful  husbanding 
of  natural  resources.  Practically  all  nations  have  traveled  the  same 
road.  Some  reach  this  point  sooner  than  others,  but  every  one  is 
inevitably  bound  to  face  the  same  situation.  The  United  States, 
being  ^ounger  than  European  countries  and  endowed  with  abundant 
natural  resources,  was  naturally  backward  and  was  until  lately  lag- 
ging somewhat  behind.  It  may  therefore  be  of  advantage  to  this 
country  to  seek  lessons  for  its  future  guidance  in  the  experience  of 
the  older  countries  which  have  been  benefited  by  proper  care  for 
their  forests,  waters,  and  soils. 

IN    EUROPEAN    COUNTRIES. 

The  forests  of  Europe  occupy  an  area  of  750,000,000  acres,  which 
is  about  31  per  cent,  or  not  quite  one-third,  of  the  total  land  area  of 
Europe.  The  most  wooded  country  is  Finland,  followed  by  Bosnia 
and  Herzegovina,  and  Sweden.  The  least  wooded  are  Portugal  and 
Great  Britain. 

In  accordance  with  the  proportion  of  forest  to  total  land  area,  the 
countries *of  Europe  may  be  arranged  in  the  following  groups: 


Finland 

Bosnia  and  Herzegovina. 
Sweden. . 


Per  cent. 
54 
50 
49 


Luxemburg 41 

Bulgaria,  Servia,  and  Russia  (exclusive  of  Finland) 30-39 

Austria,  German  Empire,  Hungary,  Norway,  Switzerland,  and  Turkey 20-29 

France,  Spain,  Belgium,  Roumania,  and  Greece ' 10-19 

Netherlands  and  Denmark 5-9 

Great  Britain  and  Portugal 4-5 

The  proportion  of  forests  decreases  from  the  north  and  east  of 
Europe  toward  the  south  and  west.  Russia,  Finland,  Sweden,  and 
Norway  together  possess  583,000,000  acres  of  forest,  or  78  per  cent 
of  the  total  forest  area  of  Europe.  Table  1  gives  the  area  now  under 
forest,  the  percentage  of  forest  area,  and  the  forest  area  per  capita 
for  most  of  the  European  countries: 

TABLE  1. — -Extent  of  forest*  in  European  countries. 


Country. 

Total  forest 
area. 

Forest 
area  per 
capita. 

Land  area 
under 
forest. 

European  Russia  .  .  . 

Acres. 
464,610  600 

Acres. 
4  3 

Per  cent. 
36  3 

Ftnlaiurr.  "  '  

52,500,000 

18.75 

54.4 

517,110,600 

Austria  

23  996  266 

92 

26  5 

Hungary  

18  692  000 

1  17 

25  7 

Croatia  and  Slavonia  

3  769  000 

1  64 

35  95 

Bosnia  and  Herzegovina  

6  380  000 

3  99 

50  5 

52.837.266 

THE   FOREST  RESOURCES  OF   THE   WORLD.  7 

TABLE  1. — Extent  of  forests  in  European  countries— Continued. 


Country. 

Total  forest 
area. 

Forest 
area  per 
capita. 

Land  area 
under 
forest. 

Sweden  

Acres. 
49,  390,  325 

Acres. 
9.7 

Per  cent. 
48.6 

Germany 

34,  989,  675 

.62 

25.89 

France 

24,021  587 

61 

18  5 

Norway                                                          .                    .                    

16,  848,  000 

7.00 

21  00 

Spain... 

(?)16,065,000 

.88 

13.00 

Italy  .                                           .                                              

10,115,404 

.31 

14.28 

Bulgaria 

7,602,815 

2  4 

30  00 

Roumania 

6,367,000 

1.08 

18.00 

British  Isles 

3,030,000 

10 

4  00 

Switzerland  .       .  .             

2,140,012 

.67 

20.6 

Greece 

2,  023,  380 

83 

(o) 

Belgium         .     .   .          

1,303,736 

.2 

17.7 

Portugal 

1,236,600 

23 

5  0 

Denmark  

603,  575 

.25 

6.3 

Holland 

563,072 

.1 

7.0 

Servia  

3,864,774 

1.55 

32.0 

750,112,821 

a  Less  than  13  per  cent.  / 

IN    NON-EUROPEAN    COUNTRIES. 

The  forests  of  other  countries  of  the  Old  and  New  Worlds,  except 
in  a  few  localities,  are  little  explored,  either  as  to  quantity  or  quality 
of  the  timber.  In  Asia,  the  possessions  of  Russia,  British  India,  and 
Japan  lead  in  amount  of  forests.  The  following  table  shows  the 
extent  of  the  forest  area  in  the  continents  outside  of  Europe  in  the 
Old  and  New  Worlds: 

TABLE  2. — Extent  of  forests  in  countries  outside  of  Europe. 


Country. 

Forest  area. 

Forest 
area  per 
capita. 

Land  area 
under 
forest. 

Asia: 
Asiatic  Russia 

Acres. 
348  030  000 

Acres. 

Percent. 

India  (Schlich)  

149,000.000 

0  6 

24  0 

Ceylon  

6  762  880 

Japan  

57,  718,  410 

Philippines 

49,000  000 

Malay  States  

101,560 

Straits  Settlements 

88,320 

Cyprus  

448,000 

Australasia: 
British  Australasia 

126  720  000 

19  8 

Java  .         ... 

4.920,000 

Hawaiian  Islands 

1  224  992 

Africa: 
Cape  Colony,  Natal,  Swaziland,  and  Transvaal  

640,502 

Mauritius  

87,680 

Madagascar 

25,000,000 

19  0 

Barbary  States  

9,526,865 

Central  Africa 

224,000,000 

South  America  (tropic).  .  . 

528,000,000 

West  Indies  

42,668,800 

66.6 

North  America: 
Canada  

799,360,000 

38.0 

Mexico 

25  000  000 

1  8 

5  1 

Alaska  

107,000,000 

United  States 

545  000  000 

29  0 

Total  

3  050  298  009 

„ 

8  THE  POKEST  KESOURCES  OF   THE  WORLD. 

As  may  be  seen  from  this  table,  the  non-European  countries  pos- 
sess a  forest  area  of  over  3,000,000,000  acres.  This  with  the 
750,000,000  acres  of  European  forests,  form  an  enormous  total  of 
almost  4,000,000,000  acres,  or  24  per  cent  of  the  total  land  area  of  the 
world.  If  to  this  we  add  the  forests  of  China,  Korea,  South  America, 
and  Africa,  for  which  there  are  no  available  data,  the  extent  of  the 
forests  of  the  world  will  be  still  greater.  Unfortunately,  all  figures 
for  forest  areas  are  more  or  less  approximations.  While  the  figures 
for  the  forests  of  Austria-Hungary,  Germany,  France,  Sweden,  ^STor- 
way,  Finland,  Belgium,  and  Switzerland  are  fairly  accurate,  the  fig- 
ures for  Russian,  Canadian,  or  even  for  the  United  States  forests  are 
only  approximate,  and  will  eventually  need  correction  as  knowledge 
of  the  forest  resources  increases.  The  enormous  forest  areas  in  Rus- 
sia, the  United  States,  and  Canada  include  a  large  proportion  of  land 
at  present  unproductive,  such  as  swamps,  burns,  or  lands  which 
sooner  or  later  will  be  taken  up  by  agriculture,  and  which  do  not 
therefore  give  a  true  idea  of  the  forest  land  proper.  Also  the  figures 
which  show  the  percentage  of  forest  land  give  only  an  approximate 
notion  of  the  distribution  of  forests  in  the  country,  because  the  pro- 
portion of  forests  to  total  land  area  greatly  varies  in  different  parts  of 
the  same  country. 

"Forest  land"  is  usually  understood  to  mean  land  covered  with 
woody  growth  of  economic  importance.  After  the  Glacial  Period,  in 
prehistoric  times,  and  also  according  to  tradition  and  written  record, 
in  the  earliest  historic  times,  forests  occupied  much  larger  areas  than 
now.  However,  there  are  scientists  who  hold  that  some  forests — hi 
Europe,  for  instance — were  preceded  by  prairie. 

The  character  of  the  forest  depends  upon  climate.  Forests  of 
cold  and  moderate  regions  contain  fewer  species  and  are  more  homo- 
geneous in  composition  than  those  in  tropical  regions.  True  tropical 
forests  are  found  in  some  parts  of  India  and  in  the  basins  of  the  large 
rivers  of  South  America  and  Africa.  In  Java,  Borneo,  Kongo,  and 
along  the  Amazon  and  Oronoco  the  forests  are  extremely  rich  in 
variety  of  species. 

In  the  world  market  the  wood  of  common  trees  has  the  greatest 
economic  importance.  Pine,  spruce,  larch,  and  fir  are  used  for  con- 
struction purposes ;  oak,  birch,  hickory,  and  others  are  used  by  wood- 
working industries.  The  amount  of  rare,  precious  wood  which  is 
used  in  international  trade  is  comparatively  small. 

The  various  countries  of  the  world  may  be  separated  into  two 
groups  in  accordance  to  the  relation  of  their  wood  exports  to  their 
wood  imports. 

The  countries  whose  wood  exports  exceed  their  imports  are: 
Austria-Hungary,  Canada,  Sweden,  Russia,  Finland,  the  United 
States  of  America,  Norway,  Bosnia-Herzegovina,  Roumania,  and 
Japan;  the  countries  whose  wood  imports  exceed  their  exports  are: 
The  United  Kingdom,  Germany,  France,  Belgium,  Spain,  Italy, 
Holland,  Denmark,  Switzerland,  Australian  colonies,  China,  Greece, 
West  Indies,  Bulgaria,  Servia,  and  British  possessions  in  Africa. 

In  determining  the  forest  resources  of  European  countries  it  was 
impossible  to  obtain  any  figures  which  would  show  the  total  stand  in 
cubic  feet  or  board  measure.  In  most  European  forests  the  cutting 
of  timber  is  confined  either  to  the  annual  growth  or  to  a  fraction  of 


THE  FOREST  RESOURCES   OF   THE   WORLD.  9 

the  annual  growth  and  does  not  take  into  consideration  the  forest 
capital  which  produces  this  growth.  The  Europeans  use  the  annual 
growth  as  the  criterion  of  the  present  stand. 

The  forest  capital  itself,  or  what  we  call  the  present  stand,  is  a 
constant  quantity  which  is  not  to  be  disturbed.  With  improvement 
of  the  forest  capital  (more  fully  stocked  or  faster-growing  species), 
the  annual  growth  increases  and  more  timber  is  available  for  annual 
cutting. 

In  this  country  and  Canada,  where  there  are  still  large  areas  of 
mature  timber  and  but  little  forest  management  in  the  strict  sense  of 
this  word,  the  present  stand  in  cubic  feet  or  board  measure  is  of  special 
interest,  as  it  shows  how  much  virgin  timber  is  available  for  cutting 
and  how  long  it  will  take  to  exhaust  the  supply. 

In  order  to  make  the  results  obtained  for  different  countries  com- 
parable it  was  attempted  in  every  case  to  show  the  forest  area,  the 
annual  growth,  and  annual  cut,  and  from  these  three  factors  to  make 
deductions  as  to  the  forest  resources  of  the  different  countries. 
The  topics  discussed  for  each  country  are  as  follows:  Forest  area; 
distribution  of  the  forest  throughout  the  country;  composition  and 
character  of  the  forests;  annual  consumption,  cutting,  and  growth  per 
acre;  and  wood  prices.  ^ 

FOREST  BE  SOURCES  BY  COUNTRIES. 
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY. 

Austrian-Hungary  is  the  greatest  wood-exporting  country  in  the 
world.  It  is  not  so  rich  in  forests,  however,  as  Sweden,  although 
some  provinces  in  Austria  are  very  well  wooded  indeed.  The  com- 
bined forest  area  of  Austria,  Hungary,  and  Croatia  and  Slavonia, 
exclusive  of  the  provinces  of  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina,  is  46,440,000 
acres,  or  30.24  per  cent  of  the  total  land  area.  The  forests  of  Austria 
proper,  however,  are  very  different  from  those  of  the  Hungarian 
Kingdom,  and  it  will  be  better  to  consider  the  two  separately. 

AUSTRIA. 

FOREST  AREA. 

Forestry  has  developed  differently  in  various  parts  of  Austria.  In 
the  northwest  provinces,  such  as  Bohemia,  Moravia,  and  Silesia, 
where  the  population  is  denser  than  in  any  other  part  of  the  empire, 
the  forests  were  early  taken  care  of.  Being  close  to  Germany,  these 
northwest  provinces  have  followed  Germany  in  the  management  of 
then-  forests,  and  some  of  them  were  almost  model  forests  even  as 
early  as  1848.  In  the  mountainous  parts  of  the  country,  however, 
the  conditions  do  not  favor  rational  forest  management,  and  forestry 
there  is  far  from  being  what  it  should  be. 


10 


THE  FOREST  RESOURCES  OF   THE  WORLD. 


DISTRIBUTION. 


The  distribution  of  forests  is  very  uneven,  as  may  be  seen  from  the 
following  table: 

TABLE  3. — Forest  area  of  Austria  by  provinces. 


Province. 

Area. 

Province 

Area. 

Danube  Provinces: 

Acres. 
1  684  241  1 

Northwest  Provinces: 
Bohemia 

Acres. 
3  725  190  0 

Lower  Austria 

1,007,729.1 

Moravia                 

1,507,531.5 

Silesia 

430  293  6 

5  663  015  1 

Alpine  Provinces: 
Salzburg 

573,088.5 

Northeast  Provinces: 

Tyrol 

2  739  722  4 

Galicia 

4,829  265  9 

Styria 

2,654,118.9 

Bukovina  

1,106,854.2 

Carinthia 

1  129  104.9 

Camiola 

1,093,119.3 

5,  936,  120.  1 

8  189  154  0 

Total 

23,  996,  266.  2 

Sea  Provinces: 
Goritz  and  Istria  . 

570,345.3 

Dalmatia 

945,  661.  5 

1,516.006.8 

COMPOSITION    OF   FORESTS. 


The  forests  are  composed  principally  of  conifers,  such  as  spruce, 
pine,  and  fir.  The  coniferous  forests  occupy  16,868,700  acres,  while 
the  hardwood  forests  of  seedling  origin  occupy  only  3,522,400  acres. 
The  hardwood  forests  contain  oak,  maple,  beech,  birch,  locust,  and 
alder. 


CHARACTER    OF   FORESTS. 


The  State  owns  only  10.7  per  cent  of  the  forests,  or  2,573,000  acres; 
of  this  amount,  the  actual  property  of  the  State  is  only  1,620,000 
acres;  the  rest  is  bought  by  the  Government  with  religious  funds  in 
its  hands  and  is  under  its  control.  Communes  own  14.4  per  cent  of 
all  forests;  hereditary  and  church  forests  form  13.6  per  cent  of  the 
forest  area,  while  in  the  hands  of  private  owners  there  is  61.3  per 
cent  of  the  total  forest  area.  Of  the  latter,  32.4  per  cent  is  in  the 
hands  of  large  owners,  and  28.9  per  cent  in  the  hands  of  small  owners. 
The  State  takes  better  care  of  its  forests  than  does  any  other  owner; 
the  forests  that  belong  to  churches  and  large  owners  receive  next  best 
care.  The  management  of  communal  forests  and  of  those  belonging 
to  small  owners  is  poor. 

Austria  is  a  good  example  of  the  influence  of  railroads  on  the 
exploitation  of  forests.  Tnus,  before  railroads  were  built  in  the 
forested  sections  of  the  country,  wood  was  the  only  fuel,  and  saw 
timber  was  frequently  cut  for  firewood.  With  the  building  of  rail- 
roads, coal  was  substituted  for  wood  as  fuel,  and  this  brought  a 
change  in  the  utilization  of  the  forests.  The  consumption  of  fire- 
wood by  the  city  of  Vienna  may  be  of  interest  in  this  connection. 
Thus,  while  on  an  average  for  the  decade  1848-1857,  Vienna,  then 
with  a  much  smaller  population  than  now,  consumed  each  year 
200,170  cords,  of  which  77,841  cords  were  beech  wood;  for  the 
decade  1888-1897,  the  annual  consumption  of  wood  in  Vienna  fell  to 


THE  FOREST  RESOURCES   OF  THE   WORLD.  11 

51,708  cords,  of  which  only  17,563  cords  were  beech  wood.  The 
price  of  beech  firewood  during  these  two  periods  was  $8.76  and  $8.01 
per  cord,  respectively,  and  of  soft  woods  during  the  same  periods  was 
$5.33  and  $7.23  per  cord,  respectively.  This  decrease  in  the  con- 
sumption of  firewood  and  beech  wood  was  due  to  increase  in  the 
consumption  of  coal  and  to  the  fact  that  beech  in  the  fifties  was 
rarely  used  for  anything  but  firewood ;  therefore,  the  best  beech  trees 
were  consumed  for  this  purpose.  Now  beech  finds  many  uses,  and 
is  in  great  demand  in  the  manufacture  of  furniture  and  other  products; 
only  the  poorest  grades  are  now  cut  for  firewood. 

Of  the  23,996,266  acres  of  forest,  20,390,867  acres  are  managed  as 
high  forest,  and  3,605,399  acres  as  coppice  and  composite  forest. 


PRESENT  STAND   AND   ANNUAL   GROWTH. 


The  average  yearly  growth  of  all  the  Austrian  forests  is  given  as 
1,041,234,000  cubic  feet,  or  42.4  cubic  feet  per  acre.  Timber  forms 
45  per  cent  of  this  annual  growth.  The  forests  under  different  man- 
agement produce  different  amounts.  High  forests  produce  42.4  cubic 
feet  per  acre,  of  which  45  per  cent  is  timber;  composite  forests  (cop- 
pice with  standards),  35.3  cubic  feet  per  acre,  of  which  20  per  cent 
is  timber;  and  coppice,  32.5  cubic  feet  per  acre,  of  which  only  11  per 
cent  is  timber.  The  least  growth  is  in  Dalmatia,  where  of  the  total 
forest  area  only  7.4  per  cent  is  high  forest;  and  the  same  is  true  of 
Gorowitz  and  Istria,  the  other  sea  provinces.  In  the  Tyrol  Mountains 
the  forest  is  scattered  and  the  annual  growth  is  not  large,  mainly 
because  large  areas  are  devoted  to  grazing.  The  total  annual 
growth  in  the  state  forests  has  been  estimated  lately  at  96,767,000 
cubic  feet.  This,  divided  by  the  present  area  of  state  forests  (which 
is  2,573,100  acres),  gives  37.5  cubic  feet  per  acre.  There  are,  of 
course,  districts  where  the  annual  growth  in  the  state  forests  is  as 
high  as  70  cubic  feet  per  acre. 


ANNUAL   CUT. 


According  to  the  latest  figures,  the  annual  cut  in  the  Austrian 
forests  varies  from  1,413,000,000  to  1,580,000,000  cubic  feet  of 
wood,  which  amounts  to  from  60  to  67  cubic  feet  per  acre.  Since 
the  average  growth  per  acre  is  estimated  at  42.4  cubic  feet,  this 
indicates  that  the  forests  are  being  overcut. 


HOME    CONSUMPTION. 


In  order  to  determine  the  home  consumption  of  Austria,  the  exports 
must  be  deducted  from  the  total  cut.  Since,  however,  the  export 
figures  are  not  given  for  Austria  proper,  but  for  Austria-Hungary  as 
a  whole,  only  the  home  consumption  of  the  entire  Empire  can  be 
calculated,  and  this  will  be  given  under  the  discussion  of  the  forest 
resources  of  Hungary. 

The  consumption  of  wood  grows  every  year — not  for  firewood,  as 
previously,  but  in  such  forms  as  ties  for  railroads  and  timber  for  the 
construction  of  railroad  stations  and  cars.  The  consumption  for 
railroads  alone  is  estimated  to  be  over  35,000,000  cubic  feet  each  year. 
The  paper  and  pulp  factories  now  demand  constantly  increasing 
amounts  of  timber. 


12 


THE  FOREST  RESOURCES  OF   THE  WORLD. 


WOOD  PRICES. 


In  upper  and  lower  Austria,  Styria,  and  Silesia  the  following 
prices  prevail;  the  prices  are  per  cubic  foot  at  the  place  of  cutting 
in  the  woods,  but  include  the  cost  of  transportation  to  the  point 
of  shipment  along  the  road: 


1848 
1870 
1897 


Average  price  of  soft  woods  (in  logs)  per  cubic  foot. 


Average  price  of  cord  wood  per  cord. 


Cents. 
2.35 
4.70 
6.39 


1848. 

1870. 

1897. 

Hard  woods 

$1.90 

$3.27 

$4.63 

Soft  woods 

1.42 

2.42 

3.41 

In  Bohemia  and  Moravia  the  following  average  prices  prevail  for 
timber  per  cubic  foot  and  for  firewood  per  cord : 


1848. 

1870. 

1897. 

Timber: 
Hard  woods  (in  logs)  .     .     .           

$0.058 

$0.087 

$0.  115 

Soft  woods  (in  logs) 

.034 

.054 

.08 

Firewood: 
Hard  woods 

2.63 

4.20 

4.91 

Soft  woods 

2  03 

3  06 

3.98 

In  Galicia  the  wood  prices  per  cubic  foot  are  as  follows: 


1870. 

1897. 

Timber: 
Hard  woods  (in  logs)..'.  

$0.038 

.*().  (kS4 

Softs  wood  (in  logs).                   .     .  . 

.028 

.059 

Firewood: 
Hardwoods  

1.56 

2.92 

Soft  woods  .  . 

1  28 

4  00 

The  figures  show  that  the  prices  of  forest  products  throughput 
Austria  have  increased  to  a  great  extent  in  the  last  fifty  years.  How- 
ever, the  price  of  timber  has  risen  much  faster  than  the  price  of  fire- 
wood; thus,  while  timber  prices  in  many  localities  have  trebled,  the 
price  of  cord  wood  has  only  doubled. 

In  Galicia  the  prices  of  saw  logs  and  cord  wood  have  doubled  in  the 
twenty-seven  years  between  1870  and  1897. 


THE   FOREST  RESOURCES   OF   THE   WORLD. 


13 


HUNGARY. 


FOREST  AREA   AND   COMPOSITION. 


According  to  the  latest  figures  available,  the  forest  area  of  Hungary 
is  18,692,000  acres.  In  this  are  not  included  the  forests  of  Croatia 
and  Slavonia,  which  are  a  part  of  Hungary.  The  forests  of  Croatia 
and  Slavonia  include  3,769,000  acres.  Since  1885  the  forest  area  of 
Hungary,  with  Croatia  and  Slavonia,  has  decreased  by  54,000  acres. 
In  the  northern  part  (in  the  Carpathian  Mountains)  the  forests  are 
chiefly  hard  woods,  consisting  of  beech  (1,463,400  acres),  oak 
(1,374,300  acres),  pine  and  spruce  (1,776,600  acres),  birch  (72,900 
acres),  poplar  and  willow  (27,000  acres),  alder,  maple,  and  locust 
(203,000  acres).  The  hard-wood  forests  of  the  Carpathian  Mountains 
are  managed  as  high  forest  and  yield  timber  of  excellent  quality. 

Hard  woods  also  predominate  in  the  forests  of  eastern  Hungary. 
The  principal  species  there  are  beech  (5,891,400  acres),  oak  (2,772,900 
acres),  spruce  and  pine  (2,421,300  acres),  birch  (283,500  acres), 
willow  and  poplar  (64,500  acres),  alder,  maple,  elm,  locust,  basswood, 
and  larch  (70,200  acres). 

The  lowland  forests  are  mainly  of  poplar,  willow,  oak,  locust,  and 
beech,  in  all  about  580,500  acres.  In  the  forests  of  the  western  part, 
between  the  rivers  Danube  and  Drave,  hard  woods  also  prevail. 
Beech  occupies  596,700  acres,  oak  866,700  acres,  spruce  and  pine 
2,800  acres,  willow  and  poplar  89,800  acres,  birch  86,400  acres,  all 
other  species  72,900  acres. 

The  areas  under  different  species  show  clearly  that  Hungary  is 
principally  a  hard-wood  region,  while  Austria  is  principally  a  conif- 
erous region  in  which  conifers  form  82  per  cent  of  the  total  forest. 

Of  Hungarian  forests  1,182,600  acres  are  proclaimed  as  protection 
forests;  272,100  acres  are  on  shifting  sand;  16,889,800  acres  are  on 
forest  land  proper;  while  4,116,500  acres  are  on  soil  which  can  not  be 
called  absolute  forest  land. 

The  forests  of  Croatia  and  Slavonia,  -which  form  the  southern  part 
of  Hungary,  extend  between  the  rivers  Drave  and  Save,  and  consist 
chiefly  of  hard  woods.  Coniferous  forests  occupy  only  456,300  acres 
out  of  3,769,000  acres  of  the  total  forest  area. 

Following  are  the  areas  occupied  by  the  different  species  for  Hun- 

iry  and  Croatia  and  Slavonia  separately  and  for  the  Hungarian 


om: 


Distribution  of  forests  by  States  and  for  Kingdom. 


Species. 

Hungary. 

Croatia  and 
Slavonia. 

Hungarian 
Kingdom. 

Oak  forests  

Acres. 
5  200  200 

Acres. 
828  000 

Acres. 
6  028  200 

Beech  and  other  hard  woods  (except  oak) 

9  247  500 

2  484  000 

11  731  'SOO 

Coniferous  forests 

4  244  300 

457  000 

4  701  300 

Total  

22  461  000 

Thus  the  Kingdom  of  Hungary  has  26.8  per  cent  of  the  total  forest 
area  under  oak,  52.2  per  cent  under  beech  and  other  hard- wood 
species,  20.8  per  cent  under  conifers,  and  0.2  per  cent  underbrush. 


14 


THE  FOREST  RESOURCES   OF   THE  WORLD. 


The  following  areas  are  managed  in  the  Kingdom  as  high  forest: 
3,510,000  acres  of  oak,  8,367,000  acres  of  other  hard  woods,  4,649,400 
acres  of  spruce  and  pine;  the  rest,  5,934,600  acres,  is  in  composite 
and  coppice  forest,  or  which  25  per  cent  is  simple  coppice. 

The  forests  are  distributed  according  to  ownership  as  follows: 

Distribution  of  ownership  by  States  and  for  Kingdom. 


. 

Hungary. 

Croatia  and 
Slavonia. 

Hungarian 
Kingdom. 

State  forest 

Acres. 
2,859,000 

A  cres. 
724,000 

A  cres. 
3,583  000 

Communal  forest 

3,  745,  000 

394  000 

4  139  000 

Church  forest                       .          

1,207,000 

92,000 

1,299,000 

Private  and  corporation  forest                            «. 

10,881,000 

2,559,000 

13  440  000 

ANNUAL   GROWTH   AND   PRESENT    STAND. 


Approximate  estimates  of  the  annual  growth  were  made  in  1882 
and  1894;  they  do  not  differ  essentially.  On  an  average,  1  acre  of 
forest  in  Hungary  yielded  44.4  cubic  feet,  and  in  Croatia  and  Slavonia 
43.4  cubic  feet.  The  annual  yield  per  acre  in  coniferous  forest  was 
estimated  at  58.5  cubic  feet,  that  of  oak  forest  41.5  cubic  feet,  and 
all  other  forest  40  cubic  feet.  In  the  state  forests  the  different 
species  were  found  to  yield  the  following  grades  of  wood : 


Cord  wood 

and  wood 

for  char- 

coal. 

Per  cent. 

Per  cent. 

Oak... 

25  to  40 

75  to  60 

Beech 

3  to  15 

97  to  85 

Conifers 

70  to  85 

30  to  15 

These  figures  show  that  conifers  yield  the  largest  percentage  of  saw 
timber,  and  for  this  reason  Hungary  with  its  hard-wood  forests  can 
not  export  large  quantities  of  structural  timber,  which  must  be 
secured  chiefly  from  Austria.  The  total  annual  growth  is  given  as 
1,000,000,000  cubic  feet. 


ANNUAL  CUT. 


There  are  no  figures  available  for  the  total  cut  in  all  the  forests  of 
Hungary  proper.  In  the  state  forests  the  annual  cut  per  acre  is  30 
to  33  cubic  feet  per  acre,  which  is  less  than  the  annual  growth. 


ANNUAL   CONSUMPTION. 


There  are  no  figures  for  the  annual  consumption  in  Hungary  alone, 
so  it  will  be  considered  together  with  Austria  for  the  entire  Empire. 


WOOD   PRICES. 


Timber  brings  fairly  good  prices.     Thus  oak,  the  most  valuable  of 
all  timber  trees,  is  sold  in  southern  Hungary  on  the  stump  at  6J  to 


THE   FOREST  RESOURCES   OF   THE   WORLD.  15 

11  cents  per  cubic  foot;  in  Slavonia,  at  from  11  to  17 %  cents  per  cubic 
foot.  The  market  prices  of  saw  timber  vary  from  44  to  55  cents  per 
cubic  foot,  and  sometimes  go  even  as  high  as  77  cents.  Coniferous 
wood  does  not  command  as  high  prices  and  is  sold  at  3.4  to  6.7  cents 
per  cubic  foot  on  the  stump,  while  the  finished  product  in  the  lumber 
yard  brings  as  high  as  from  16 J  to  44  cents  per  cubic  foot. 

The  prices  per  cubic  foot  vary  according  to  the  species  and  the  kind 
of  wood,  as  may  be  seen  from  the  table  below: 

Prices  of  lumber  and  cord  wood  on  stump  and  in  yard. 


On  stump. 

In  lumber  yard. 

LUMBER. 

Oak 

Cents. 
3.8  to  11.2 

Cents. 
9.  0  to  13.  7 

Beech     

8.7 

11.0 

Elm  and  maple 

3.7  to  11.2 

7.  3  to  13.  5 

Spruce  and  pine  

1.7  to    6.2 

3.  8  to    8.  4 

Larch 

2.  2  to    8.  3 

5.0  to  10.0 

CORD  WOOD. 

Oak 

$0.  60  to  $3.  20 

$2.  07  to  $4  02 

Beech  

$1.  31  to  $2.  60 

$2.  07  to  $4.  01 

In  Croatia  and  Slavonia  the  stumpage  is  given  as  somewhat  higher, 
especially  for  oak  saw  logs  and  oak  staves. 

BOSNIA    AND    HERZEGOVINA. 

In  considering  the  forest  resources  of  Austria-Hungary  one  must 
mention  also  the  two  Provinces  under  the  control  of  Austria — Bosnia 
and  Herzegovina. 

The  forests  of  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina  occupy  6,380,000  acres,  of 
which  5,016,500  acres  are  state  forests  and  the  remaining  1,363,500 
acres  form  private  property. 

In  the  state  forests  3,572,000  acres  are  high  forest  and  1,444,500 
acres  are  coppice.  The  private  forests  have  351,000  acres  of  high 
forest  and  1,012,500  acres  of  coppice. 

The  annual  cut  amounts  to  7,487,000  cubic  feet  of  coniferous  spe- 
cies, 1,413,000  cubic  feet  of  oak,  and  9,006,000  cubic  feet  of  beech, 
besides  a  large  amount  of  oak  bark  for  tanning.  The  exploitation 
of  the  forests  of  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina  is  just  beginning.  Twenty 
years  ago  they  were  hardly  used  at  all. 

ANNUAL  CUT  AND  CONSUMPTION  FOR  THE  EMPIRE  OF  AUSTRIA-HUNGARY. 

According  to  the  latest  data,  the  annual  cut  in  all  of  the  forests 
of  Austria-Hungary,  including  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina,  was 
2,827,000,000  cubic  feet  of  wood,  or  53  cubic  feet  per  acre.  Of  this 
cut  one  half  was  sawed  into  firewood,  the  other  half  made  into  saw 
logs,  at  an  average  price  on  the  stump  of  3.5  cents  per  cubic  foot. 

The  exports  for  the  period  between  1895  and  1899  were,  on  an  aver- 
age, equal  to  320,000,000  cubic  feet  on  the  stump.  Deducting  this 
320,000,000  cubic  feet  from  the  total  cut  (2,827,000,000  cubic  feet), 
there  remains  about  2,500,000,000  cubic  feet  of  wood  for  home  con- 
sumption. This,  with  a  population  of  43,825,000,  would  give  a  con- 


16 


THE  FOEEST  KESOUECES   OF   THE   WOELD. 


sumption  of  57  cubic  feet  to  each  inhabitant.  This  consumption 
was  distributed  roughly  somewhat  as  follows:  530,000,000  cubic  feet 
were  sawed  into  lumber,  40,000,000  cubic  feet  were  used  by  the  rail- 
roads, 30,000,000  cubic  feet  were  consumed  by  pulp  and  paper  mills, 
and  the  rest  was  used  by  the  people  as  round  timber  for  construction 
and  fuel.  These  estimates,  though  crude,  give  some  idea  of  the 
consumption. 

CANADA. 


FOREST   AREA. 


The  forest  area  of  Canada  is  estimated  as  1,249,000  square  miles, 
or  38  per  cent  of  the  total  land  area.  Not  all  of  this,  however,  is 
timber  land;  only  about  one-third,  or  400,000  square  miles,  may  be 
taken  as  covered  with  merchantable  timber,  the  rest  being  brush  land. 
According  to  Mr.  Stewart,  Superintendent  of  Forestry,  Department 
of  the  Interior,  Dominion  of  Canada,  a  very  large  portion  of  the 
Dominion  forest  lands  is  of  little  value  for  commercial  purposes.  His 
estimates,  which  are  the  latest  and  are  authoritative,  give  only  one- 
fifth  of  the  1,406,200  square  miles  as  more  or  less  wooded  area,  or 
only  280,000  square  miles  can  be  considered  as  timber  land  of  com- 
mercial value.  At  an  average  stand  of  2,000  feet  b.  m.  per  acre  this 
would  give  about  360,000,000,000  board  feet  of  mature  timber. 

According  to  Mr.  George  Johnson,  Statistician,  Department  of 
Agriculture,  Dominion  of  Canada,  the  area  of  forests  in  the  different 
provinces  is  as  follows: 

TABLE  4. — Forest  area  of  Canada  by  provinces. 


Provinces. 

Area  of 
forest  in 
square 
miles. 

Land  area 
under 
forest. 

Prince  Edward  Island 

800 

Per  cent. 
40 

Nova  Scotia  

6,500 

31 

New  Brunswick 

14  800 

53 

Ontario  .... 

102,100 

46 

Quebec     .  .  . 

116  500 

51 

Manitoba 

25  600 

40 

British  Columbia  

285  600 

75 

Territories 

697  100 

29 

Total  

1  249  000 

038 

a  Average. 
COMPOSITION. 


The  Canadian  forests  are  stocked  with  a  large  number  of  species, 
among  which  the  three  most  important  are  white  pine,  found  in  the 
southeast  part  of  the  Dominion;  spruce,  occurring  over  Jarge  areas; 
and  Douglas  fir,  found  principally  in  British  Columbia.  Besides  these 
there  are  a  large  number  of  others  which  play  a  greater  or  less  part  in 
the  lumber  trade ;  as,  among  the  hard  woods,  ash,  birch,  elm,  maple, 
beech,  oak,  hickory,  etc.  The  bulk,  however,  is  coniferous  timber,  as 
may  be  inferred  from  the  fact  that  of  the  exports  94  per  cent  are 
conifers  and  only  6  per  cent  hard  woods. 


THE   FOREST  RESOURCES   OF   THE    WORLD. 


17 


The  principal  forest  areas  are  in  the  eastern  and  western  provinces, 
the  central  part  of  Canada  being  occupied  by  large  treeless  prairies. 

The  forests  of  Canada  belong  chiefly  to  the  provincial  governments 
and  to  the  railroads.  In  Manitoba  and  in  the  Northwestern  Terri- 
tories the  forests  are  the  property  of  the  Dominion  government  and 
of  Indian  tribes. 

ANNUAL  CUT   AND   CONSUMPTION 

The  total  annual  cut  as  given  by  the  census  of  1891,  amounts  to 
2,045,073,072  cubic  feet,  distributed  among  the  different  products 
as  follows: 


Quantity. 

Cubic  feet. 

Square  timber  

tons  .  . 

865,896 

43,294,800 

Logs,  masts,  and  spars  

pieces 

48.  852,  225 

407,101,875 

Staves 

M 

92,260 

791  128 

Railroad  ties  and  fence  poles  

pieces 

39,  048,  162 

117,  144,  486 

Telegraph  poles 

do 

303,  861 

3,282  175 

Fire,  lath,  and  pulp  wood  and  bark.  .  . 

...cords.  . 

11,439,541 

1,464,061,248 

Shingles 

M 

939,  736 

9,  397,  360 

Total  

2,045,073,072 

The  exports  were  estimated  at  613,000,000  cubic  feet,  which  left 
1,432,073,072  cubic  feet  for  home  consumption.  This  made  a  per 
capita  consumption  of  296.2  cubic  feet.  For  the  last  eighteen  years 
the  cut  has  increased  enormously.  Professor  Fernow  estimates  the 
present  cut  at  about  2,400,000,000  cubic  feet  of  finished  material, 
which  represents  not  less  than  3,000,000,000  cubic  feet  as  it  grows  in 
the  forest,  or  about  17  cubic  feet  per  acre.  If  to  this  be  added  the 
enormous  loss  of  timber  through  fire,  a  loss  estimated  by  some  to  be 
equal  to  nearly  ten  times  the  amount  cut,  the  drain  is  at  present 
probably  greater  than  their  productive  powers;  their  exploitation  is 
at  the  expense  of  the  forest  capital  itself.  There  are  no  figures  show- 
ing the  growth  per  acre,  but  it  is  probably  at  best  not  more  than  20 
cubic  feet.  Schlich  a  gives  the  total  cut  of  wood  for  the  year  1900, 
as  given  in  the  census  report  of  1901,  as  1,211,209,625  cubic  feet, 
of  which  503,527,545  cubic  feet  were  in  the  form  of  timber  and 
707,682,080  cubic  feet  firewood.  This  figure,  however,  can  not  be 
the  complete  returns  for  the  total  cut  because  it  is  much  smaller 
than  the  amount  given  by  the  census  of  1891;  the  cut  since  then  has 
increased. 


TIMBER   PRICES. 


Table  5,  on  the  following  page,  conveys  an  idea  of  the  prices  for 
the  different  kinds  of  wood  derived  from  various  species,  based  on  the 
data  obtained  in  the  year  1900. 


a  Forest  Policy  in  the  British  Empire,  VoL  I  of  his  Manual  of  Forestry. 
55826°— Bull.  83—10 2 


18 


Till:   I-'OKEST   RESOURCES    OF    THE    WORLD. 


TABLE  5. — Quantity  a) id  raluc  of  timber  and  firewood  in  1900. 


Class  and  kind  of  wood. 

Quantity  in 
solid  cubic 
feet. 

Value. 

Value, 
per  cubic 
foot. 

Square,  waney,  or  flat  timber: 
Ash 

416,308 

.°i:'..M31.  70 

SO.  104 

Birch                           .  .              

1,203,564 

,044.16 

.122 

Elm                                                                   

1,354,705 

143,020.  OS 

.105 

MM. 

346,  433 

35,990.58 

.  103 

Oak 

110,219 

19,04''  01 

.172 

Pine                                                          

2.381,310 

445,389.84 

.187 

All  other  kinds 

5,914,314 

005,074.86 

.102 

Total  or  average                               

11,726,913 

1,438,893.32 

.122 

Logs  for  lumber,  ot;-.: 
Elm                                                                

8,224,100 

640,421.36 

.077 

Hickory 

165.000 

19,  153.  26 

.110 

Hemlock  

20,077,800 

1,094,680.98 

.054 

Oak                                                                

1,042,100 

149,  60.".  MS 

.143 

Pine 

153,368,100 

14,940  00  ;  66 

008 

Sprrce 

104,067,600 

7,140  137  04 

008 

All  other  kinds 

78  751  600 

4  968  582  12 

003 

Total  or  average  

:i(i.~>,096,300 

28,  959,  184.  80 

.079 

Miscellaneous  timber: 
Wood  for  pulp  .   . 

53,442.720 

2,107,791.72 

.039 

Fence  posts 

33,357,710 

504.420  '.Hi 

.016 

Masts  and  spars 

313  880 

28  192  86 

089 

Piling  :  
Railroad  ti<;s 

2,402,632 
32,607  IftJ 

228,585.24 
1,307  4'1   It* 

.095 
.041 

Poles  for  electric  wires  

2,040,888 

202,  499.  06 

.099 

Hop  and  hoop  pol?s  .  .  . 

596,  074 

Staves,  bolts,  and  headings 

1  343  268 

23  177  34 

038 

Total  or  average 

126,104,332 

4,  522,  088.  56 

.036 

Total  of  all  timber  
Total  of  all  firewood 

503,527,545 
707,682  080 

34,920,166.68 
14,141,171.16 

.069 
.01 

(Jnind  total  of  all  wood.. 

1,211,209,625 

49,061.337.84 

.04 

Tarihark.    . 

427  203  72 

18  676  98 

49,507,218.54 

RUSSIA. 


FOREST   AREA    AND    DISTRIBUTION. 


The  forest  resources  of  Russia  are  enormous.  The  total  forest  area 
has  recently  boon  given  as  812,640,600  acres,  though,  as  indicated 
bHow,  this  estimate  is  unquestionably  excessive.  The  proportion 
of  forest  to  total  land  area  is  15.45  per  cent.  The  forests  are  very 
unevenly  distributed,  hov.'ever,  as  is  shown  by  the  following  table: 

•'<!  I///  fsnn  incet. 


Province. 

Forest  area. 

Propor- 
tion of 
forests 
to  total 
area. 

sixty  provinces  of  European  Russia.  .  . 

A  crcs. 
444  711  600 

Per  cent. 
36  31 

Caucasus 

19  899  000 

17  20 

Western  Sibrria 

307  530  000 

30  39 

Eastern  Siberia  

40,500,000 

5  01 

Total 

812  640  600 

25  73 

THE   FOREST  RESOURCES   OF   THE    WORLD.  19 

This  table  does  not  include  the  middle  Asiatic  provinces,  as  Trans- 
baikal,  Amur,  and  Sakhalin,  which  comprise  2,316,000,000  acres,  and 
are  practically  destitute  of  forests.  The  proportion  of  forest  for 
the  provinces  which  have  forests  is  25.73  per  cent,  while  tho  propor- 
tion of  forest  to  the  total  area  of  the  Empire,  without  Finland,  is  only 
15.45  per  cent.  The  table  also  shows  how  different  is  the  distribution 
of  forests  in  various  parts  of  the  Russian  Empire.  Thus,  while  Euro- 
pean Russia  has  over  36  per  cent,  the  Caucasus  has  only  17  per  cent, 
and  eastern  Siberia  has  but  5  per  cent  of  its  area  under  forest.  The 
forests  of  European  Russia  are  of  course  of  the  greatest  value.  Even 
there  the  distribution  is  very  unequal;  the  five  northern  provinces 
contain  practically  two-thirds  of  the  total  forest  area. 


COMPOSITION. 


The  composition  of  the  Russian  forests  is  still  very  little  known.  In 
1893,  out  of  the  315,900,000  acres  of  forest  in  European  Russia  and 
Caucasus  which  were  under  the  administration  of  the  forest  depart- 
ment, there  was  88  per  cent  of  conifers,  11  per  cent  of  hard  wood,  and 
1  per  cent  of  openings  and  cuttings  which  did  not  come  up  to  forest. 
In  Siberia  71  per  cent  of  the  total  area  was  under  conifers,  29  per  cent 
under  hard  woods.  Oak  occupied  3,284,682  acres,  either  in  the  form 
of  pure  forests  or  mixed  forests  in  which  oak  predominated. 


OWNERSHIP. 


The  State  owns  643,067,100  acres,  or  79.2  per  cent  of  the  total  area, 
and  only  169,573,500  acres,  or  20.8  per  cent,  belong  to  other  owners. 
The  distribution  of  the  forests  according  to  ownership,  however,  varies 
somewhat  in  the  different  regions.  Of  the  444,71 1,600  acres  in  Euro- 
pean Russia,  more  than  two-thirds  belong  to  the  State  and  Crown, 
and  only  31  per  cent  to  private  owners;  in  the  Caucasus  the  State 
owns  13,405,500  acres  out  of  a  total  area  of  19,899,000  acres,  or  67.3 
per  cent;  in  eastern  Siberia  the  State  owns  about  76  per  cent;  in 
western  Siberia  the  State  possesses  nearly  all  of  the  forests;  out  of 
307,530,000  acres,  303,671,700  acres,  or  98.7  per  cent,  belong  to  the 
State.  Out  of  643,067,100  acres  of  forest  belonging  to  the  State 
there  are,  properly  speaking,  only  341,442,000  acres  of  true  forest 
land,  the  rest  being  either  agricultural  or  swamp  land.  Therefore  the 
total  forest  area  of  Russia  should  be  not  812,640,600,  but  511,015,500 
acres. 

Of  the  total  forest  area  of  European  Russia,  1,269,000  acres  are 
declared  protective  forests  and  1,225,800  acres  are  watershed  forests. 
In  a  similar  way,  in  the  Caucasus  81,000  acres  are  declared  protective 
and  180,900  acres  are  watershed  forests. 


ANNUAL  GROWTH  AND  ANNUAL  CUT. 


A  comparison  of  the  annual  growth  and  annual  cut  per  acre  in 
the  Russian  forests  shows  that  at  present  only  a  fraction  of  the 
annual  growth  is  actually  used.  The  reason  is  that  the  bulk  of  the 
forests  is  located  in  regions  but  poorly  developed  and  with  no  means 
of  transportation.  According  to  the  statement  of  the  Russian 
administration,  only  a  small  part  of  the  annual  growth  can  now  be 


20  THE  FOREST   RESOURCES   OF   THE   WORLD. 

used  on  account  of  lack  of  market.     The  condition  in  1898  was  as 
follows : 

1.  In  the  state  forests  of  European  Russia,  over  a  forest  area  of 
237,500,000  acres,  the  annual  growth  was  13.6  cubic  feet  per  acre, 
of  which  only  40  per  cent,  or  5.1  cubic  feet  per  acre  could  be  actually 
marketed  and  used. 

2.  In  the  state  forests  of  the  Caucasus,  with  13,250,000  acres  of 
forest,  out  of  a  possible  yield  of  38.4  cubic  feet  per  acre,  only  16  per 
cent,  or  6.2  cubic  feet  per  acre,  was  actually  used. 

3.  In  the  state  forests  of  western  Siberia,  with  an  area  of  95,000,000 
acres,  out  of  a  possible  yield  of  3.1  cubic  feet  per  acre  only  40  per 
cent,  or  1.3  cubic  feet,  was  actually  cut  and  used. 

More  wood  is  used  in  other  forests  than  in  those  owned  by  the 
State,  but  these  amount  to  only  about  one-third  of  the  total  forest 
area.  In  all  forests  not  under  control  of  the  Government  the  cutting 
is  heavier  than  in  those  owned  by  the  State.  In  the  following  table 
are  given  the  cut  per  acre  and  the  total  cut  in  the  different  kinds  of 
forest: 

Annual  cut  in  cubic  feet  per  acre  and  total  cut  by  ownership. 


Cut  per 
acre. 

Total  cut. 

State  forest  

5.15 

1,249,994,000 

Crown  forest 

10.75 

201,267,000 

Communal  forest  

11.15 

98,868,000 

Peasant  forest                                          .                                              ... 

18.59 

910,  405,  000 

Private  forest 

37  04 

4  554  990  000 

Total 

7,015,524,000 

Thus  the  annual  cut  in  European  Russia  is  about  7,000,000,000 
cubic  feet  for  the  productive  forest  land  (412,000,000  acres),  or  17 
cubic  feet  per  acre.  On  the  other  hand,  the  total  annual  growth  for 
the  same  area  is  estimated  at  12,711,000,000  cubic  feet,  or  about  31 
cubic  feet  per  acre.  In  other  words,  the  cutting  in  these  forests  is 
a  little  more  than  one-half  of  what  is  produced  each  year. 

In  the  forests  of  Asiatic  Russia  the  exploitation  is  practically 
nil,  hardly  amounting  to  1.3  cubic  feet  per  acre. 


CONSUMPTION. 


If  from  the  7,000,000,000  cubic  feet  annually  cut  in  the  forests 
of  European  Russia  is  deducted  the  annual  export  of  423,720,000 
cubic  feet,  the  remainder  is  a  home  consumption  of  6,576,280,000 
cubic  feet.  This,  with  a  population  of  104,000,000,  gives  a  per 
capita  consumption  of  63  cubic  feet.  Assuming  that  one-half  of 
the  annual  growth  (12,711,000,000  cubic  feet)  is  saw-log  timber, 
there  is  produced  annually  6,355,500,000  cubic  feet  of  such  material. 
With  a  home  consumption  of  about  25  cubic  feet  of  saw  logs  per 
capita,  the  total  would  be  2,600,000,000  cubic  feet,  which  would  still 
leave  3,755,500,000  cubic  feet  available  for  export.  At  present 
the  wood  deficit  in  all  European  countries  together  amounts  in  logs 
to  about  1,412,000,000  cubic  feet  per  annum.  This  deficit  may 
become  three  times  as  large,  and  still  European  Russia  could  appar- 
ently furnish  enough  timber  for  the  countries  which  depend  on 
importations  for  their  supply. 


THE  FOREST  RESOURCES   OF   THE   WORLD.  21 


WOOD   PRICES. 


In  the  yearbooks  of  the  Department  of  the  Treasury  for  1898  and 
1900  are  given  stumpage  prices.  Thus,  in  1895,  in  the  remote 
northern  government  of  Archangels,  1  cubic  foot  of  pine  timber  on 
the  stump  was  worth  2.7  cents;  in  1898,  3.7  cents;  in  1895  spruce 
was  selling  for  1.9  cents,  and  in  1898  for  2.1  cents;  pine  cord  wood 
was  worth  on  the  stump  18  cents  per  cord.  In  another  northern 
and  remote  government,  Olonezk,  timber  on  the  stump  was  worth 
3.5  cents  per  cubic  foot  for  pine  and  2  cents  for  spruce.  In  the 
government  of  St.  Petersburg  the  stumpage  price  was  3.7  cents  for 
pine  and  2.2  cents  for  spruce. 

In  the  central  governments  the  stumpage  prices  were,  of  course, 
much  higher.  Thus,  in  the  government  of  Moscow  the  stumpage 
price  for  firewood  was  given  in  1898  as  $1.60  per  cord  for  pine  wood, 
$1.21  per  cord  for  spruce,  $1.16  per  cord  for  oak,  $1.70  per  cord  for 
birch  wood,  and  33  cents  for  all  other  species;  saw-log  timber  in  the 
same  year  was  worth  6  cents  per  cubic  foot  for  pine,  3.7  cents  for 
spruce,  2.5  for  all  other  species.  In  the  government  of  Petrokovsk 
firewood  was  selling  for  $2.31  per  cord  for  pine  on  the  stump,  $2.13 
per  cord  for  spruce,  $3.23  for  oak  and  birch;  saw-log  timber  was 
selling  for  9.8  cents  per  cubic  foot  for  pine  and  spruce  and  12.3  cents 
per  cubic  foot  for  oak. 

These  figures  give  an  idea  of  the  range  of  prices  for  timber  and 
firewood  in  the  Russian  Empire.  Stumpage  pnces  have  now  reached 
such  a  point  that  further  advance  is  hardly  to  be  expected.  There 
are,  of  course,  many  places  here  and  there,  remote  from  means  of 
transportation,  where  forests  are  still  cheap;  but  as  soon  as  a  railroad 
is  built  the  price  of  land,  and  with  it  the  price  of  timber,  will  jump 
at  once. 


FINLAND. 

FOREST   AREA. 


Finland,  although  politically  part  of  the  Russian  Empire,  has  had 
an  independent  economic  development. 

The  forest  area  may  be  given  as  52,500,000  acres,  or  54.4  per  cent 
of  the  total  land  area,  and  18|  acres  per  capita.  The  State  in  all  owns 
or  controls  32,117,500  acres,  or  about  61.2  per  cent  of  all  the  forest 
area.  The  rest,  38.8  per  cent,  belongs  to  private  owners.  The  forests 
extend  only  to  the  sixty-ninth  degree  north  latitude.  Only  a  few 
species,  like  birch,  extend  farther  north.  The  forests  are  composed 
almost  exclusively  of  pine,  spruce,  birch,  and,  to  some  extent,  alder. 
The  most  valuable  species  is,  of  course,  the  pine,  which  is,  however,  of 
very  slow  growth.  It  takes  the  pine  from  eighty  to  two  hundred 
years  to  reach  sizes  suitable  for  construction,  and  from  one  hundred 
and  forty  to  one  hundred  and  eighty  years  to  make  saw  logs.  The 
farther  north  it  is,  the  slower,  of  course,  is  its  growth.  As  a  rule,  the 
spruce  occupies  more  fertile  soil  than  the  pine  and  reaches  its  develop- 
ment in  a  much  shorter  time. 


22 


THE  FOREST   RESOURCES   OF   THE   WORLD. 


ANNUAL   GROWTH    AND    CUT. 


The  cut  in  the  state  forests  for  1897  amounted  to  25,737,000  cubic 
feet,  or  0.74  cubic  foot  per  acre.  In  the  northern  forests  the  cut  per 
acre1  was  only  0.43  cubic  foot,  while  in  the  rest  of  the  forests  there  was 
cut  as  much  as  3.44  cubic  feet  per  acre.  Of  the  total  cut,  7,837,000 
cubic  feet  formed  cord  wood. 

In  the  20,382,500  acres  of  private  forest  there  was  cut  approxi- 
mately 343,000,000  cubic  feet  each  year,  or  about  17  cubic  feet  per 
acre. 

The  annual  growth  per  acre  for  all  the  forests  in  the  country  can 
be  considered  as  about  19.8  cubic  feet  per  acre.  From  these  figures 
it  can  be  seen  that  while  in  the  state  forests  the  cut  is  considerably 
below  the  annual  growth,  in  private  forests  the  annual  growth  is  only 
a  trifle  more  than  the  cut. 


CONSUMPTION. 


The  total  cut  in  both  private  and  state  forests  may  be  estimated  at 
between  369,000,000  and  379,000,000  cubic  feet  each  year.  The 
exports  amounted  to  about  from  132,000,000  to  142,000,000  cubic 
feet,  which,  deducted  from  the  total  cut,  would  leave  about  237,000,000 
cubic  feet  for  home  consumption,  or  91.5  cubic  feet  per  inhabitant. 


WOOD    PRICES. 


The  statistical  yearbooks  of  Finland  give  the  prices  of  finished 
sawed  lumber.  Below  are  the  prices  for  the  period  between  1886  and 
1897,  per  cubic  foot  of  sawed  boards: 


1886 

Cents. 
9.5 

1893  

Cents. 
12.8 

1887 

11.1 

1894  

12.  S 

1888 

9.7 

1895  

12.2 

1890 

1  1  7 

1896 

12.6 

1891 

1  1  S 

1897 

13.4 

1892.  . 

.  12.6 

SWEDEN. 


FORKST   AREA. 


Up  to  1897  Sweden  was  in  the  lead  of  all  countries  exporting  tim- 
ber. In  1898,  however,  the  exports  began  to  lag  behind  those  from 
Austria-Hungary,  which  at  that  time  began  to  increase  enormously. 

The  lumber  industry  of  Sweden  is  comparatively  young  and  has 
irrown  up  in,  perhaps,  the  last  forty  years.  The  country  is  very  rich 
in  forests,  but  the  bulk  of  them  lie  in  the  north,  and  on  account  of 
lack  of  roads  are  not  easily  accessible.  It  is  only  with  the  building 
of  railroads  that  the  present  exploitation  of  the  northern  forests 
became  possible.  The  driving  of  logs  in  the  little  streams  of  the 
north  otters  great  diflicuities,  but  still  these  streams  are  used  exten- 
sivelv  for  this  purpose  in  the  same  way  as  are  those  of  Maine  and 
northern  New  York. 

The  distribution  of  forests  by  provinces,  the  forest  area,  and  the 
area  per  capita  are  shown  by  Table  6. 


THE   FOREST  RESOURCES   OF   THE    WORLD.  23 

TABLE  6. — Forest  area  of  Sweden  by  per  cent  of  land  and  per  capita  by  provinces. 


Ac 

res. 

Per  cent 
of  total 

Forest 
area  per 

1890. 

1898. 

area  un- 
der forest. 

capita  in 
1898. 

Stockholm     

1,011,752.1 

1,012,216.5 

54.8 

Acres. 
2.21 

697,871.7 

692,  298.  9 

54.7 

5.56 

Sodermanland                                               

691,  869.  6 

715,  022.  1 

46.1 

4.32 

1,  526,  774.  4 

1,  532,  152.  8 

62.2 

5.54 

564,123.9 

733,  549.  5 

27.9' 

3.65 

605,  915.  1 

607,  999.  5 

27.6 

3.81 

882,  754.  2 

1,389,600.9 

51.3 

6.08 

Gothland  

365,261.4 

341,188.2 

44.3 

6.51 

Blekinge 

281,358.9 

280,  978.  2 

39.3 

1.92 

Kristianstad                                   

486,939.6 

507,  338.  1 

33.0 

2.32 

Malniohus 

143,  448.  3 

152,  220.  6 

13.0 

.38 

1  falland 

169,  965.  0 

187,  987.  5 

15.9 

1.32 

(loteborg                                                      

2"85,  975.  9 

288,189.9 

23.8 

.89 

Elfsborg 

1,092,833.1 

1,  328,  445.  9 

45.5 

4.75 

S  Icaraborg                                    

728,  546.  4 

740,545.2 

37.1 

3.05 

Wermland 

3,  455,  462.  7 

3,368,970.9 

77.7 

13.23 

U  rebro                          

1,255,362.3 

1,276,605.9 

62.3 

6.62 

Y\  'estmanland                                                     

904,  502.  7 

848,  650.  5 

53.1 

6.62 

4,  823,  784.  9 

5,133,777.3 

73.8 

24.08 

Gefleborg                                          

3,  556,  583.  1 

3,  694,  337.  1 

81.7 

16.01 

Westernorrlaiid 

3,  926,  545.  2 

4,374,361.8 

73.4 

19.28 

Temtland                          

4,  866,  169.  5 

7,259,992.2 

61.8 

66.34 

Westerbotten                                                       .  .  . 

5,414,569.2 

5,  696,  557.  2 

41.3 

40.64 

Norbotten 

6,  853,  885.  2 

7,  227,  338.  4 

29.4 

57.59 

Total  or  average 

44,  592,  260.  4 

49,  390,  325.  1 

48.6 

9.7 

The  proportion  of  forest  to  total  land  area,  as  can  be  seen,  is  enor- 
mous, being  48.6  per  cent.  The  forest  area  per  capita  of  population 
is  given  as  9.7  acres.  This  explains  why  Sweden  is  capable  of  carry- 
ing on  such  a  large  international  trade  in  forest  products  with  the 
whole  world,  sending  timber  even  to  Australia,  Africa,  and  South 
America.  The  forest  area  diminishes  from  north  to  south.  Its  dis- 
tribution per  capita  varies  in  different  provinces,  in  some  being  as 
high  as  66  acres  and  in  others  less  than  one-half  an  acre. 

In  1890  the  state  forests  comprised  18,058,000  acres;  in  1898  the 
area  had  increased  to  18,641,000  acres.  Of  this  amount  the  State 
actually  owned  10,063,000  acres,  while  the  remaining  8,578,000 
acres  were  either  the  joint  property  of  the  State  and  of  institutions 
or  were  merely  under  state  control.  The  forest  area  which  is  owned 
jointly  by  the  State  and  private  individuals  amounted  to  2,295,000 
acres.  There  are  mor3  detailed  data  for  the  state  forests  and  those 
under  state  control  than  for  any  other  class. 


COMPOSITION. 


Conifers  occupy  80  per  cent  of  the  forest  area;  north  of  the  line 
from  Christiania  to  Upsala  (60°  north  lat.)  is  the  coniferous  region. 
Birch,  aspen,  and  mountain  ash  form  the  uppermost  vegetative  limit 
in  the  northern  alpine  region.  Spruce  (Picea  excelsa)  forms  the 
limit  of  coniferous  growth  and  borders  upon  the  birch  region.  Pine 
(Pinus  silvestris)  grows  along  the  rivers.  In  the  central  part  both 
pine  and  spruce  occur  in  pure  stands,  while  along  the  coast  and 
toward  the  south  they  form  mixed  stands.  Oak  and  beech,  in  mix- 
ture with  conifers,  are  found  in  the  south. 


24 


THE  FOREST  RESOURCES  OF   THE  WORLD. 


ANNUAL    GROWTH   AND   CUT. 


The  following  table  gives  an  idea  of  the  cut  per  acre  in  the  state 
forests  and  those  under  state  control  for  the  period  from  1889  to 
1898: 

Annual  cut,  in  cubic  feet,  in  forests  under  state  control. 


Year. 

Total  cut. 

Cut  per 
acre. 

Year. 

Total  cut. 

Cut  per 
acre. 

1889 

44,  080,  000 

4.37 

1894 

46,  196,  000 

4.15 

1890    

34,  906,  000 

3.15 

1895  

46,  674,  000 

4.04 

1891 

39,  143,  000 

3.55 

1896     

60,  374,  000 

5.19 

1892 

42,  882,  000 

3.85 

1897 

67,117,000 

5.74 

1893    

38,  647,  000 

3.48 

1898  _  

75,  532,  000 

6.11 

As  may  be  seen  from  these  figures,  the  amount  cut  per  acre  grows 
every  year,  and  it  now  reaches  an  average  of  6.11  cubic  feet  per  acre. 
It  must  be  remembered  that  the  state  forests  are  found  chiefly  in  the 
north,  and  that  of  the  8,578,000  acres  of  state  forests  in  1890  there 
were  3,537,000  acres  which  were  swamp  land. 

The  sale  of  timber  in  the  state  forests  is  either  by  annual  auction 
sales,  or  otherwise,  to  supply  the  needs  of  the  local  population  in  fuel, 
and  a  small  amount  of  timber  for  construction,  or  the  timber  is  sold 
by  contract;  the  latter  method  is  practiced  chiefly  in  the  two  most 
northern  provinces. 

The  average  amount  of  timber,  not  counting  waste,  cut  each  year 
in  all  of  the  forests  may  be  taken  as  954,000,000  cubic  feet,  or  19.1 
cubic  feet  per  acre.  The  annual  cut  of  wood  for  1897  was  figured 
roughly  as  follows:  Export  of  timber  (in  logs),  246,863,000  cubic  feet; 
export  of  finished  products  (except  pulp  wood),  3,532,000  cubic  feet; 
wood  for  pulp  and  paper,  200,845,000  cubic  feet;  timber  for  railroads, 
50,114,000  cubic  feet;  and  wood  for  all  other  purposes,  559,874,000 
cubic  feet,  making  a  total  of  1,061,228,000  cubic  feet. 

This  figure  is  larger  than  the  one  given  above  (954,000,000  cubic 
feet)  as  the  annual  cut;  the  difference  is  due  to  the  fact  that  in  the 
latter  case  the  amounts  were  given  in  the  rough,  including  waste, 
which  in  some  cases  is  very  great.  In  the  northern  parts,  where  there 
are  no  means  of  transportation,  the  part  of  a  tree  which  can  not  be 
utilized  is  often  as  high  as  40  per  cent,  almost  as  much  as  in  the  United 
States.  In  central  and  southern  Sweden,  however,  the  waste  does 
not  exceed  5  per  cent. 

The  average  annual  growth  in  all  the  forests  is  greater  than  the 
annual  cut  per  acre.  The  annual  growth  has  been  estimated  at  25 
cubic  feet  per  acre;  therefore  the  annual  cut  could  be  increased  to 
1,235,500,000  cubic  feet  without  depleting  the  forests. 

CONSUMPTION. 

If  we  add  to  the  amount  of  timber  exported  in  the  form  of  logs 
and  lumber  the  amount  of  pulp  wood  also,  the  total  exports  would 
amount  to  350,000,000  cubic  feet.  If  we  deduct  this  amount  from 
the  total  annual  cut  of  954,000,000  cubic  feet,  the  remainder  repre- 
sents a  home  consumption  of  604,000,000  cubic  feet,  or  120  cubic  feet 
per  capita.  If  we  include  also  the  waste  involved  in  the  production 
of  the  total  annual  cut,  the  per  capita  consumption  would  probably 


THE   FOREST  RESOURCES   OF   THE   WORLD. 


be  as  high  as  140  cubic  feet.  K.  von  Scherzer  °  estimated  the  con- 
sumption in  Sweden  (in  the  eighties)  at  101  cubic  feet  per  inhabitant. 
Mulhall  b  gives  the  consumption  in  Sweden  and  Norway  as  92  cubic 
feet  per  inhabitant.  Since  these  estimates  were  made  the  home  con- 
sumption in  Sweden  has  increased  considerably,  and  120  cubic  feet 
per  capita  may  be  considered  as  near  the  truth. 


WOOD   PRICES. 


Unfortunately  there  are  no  recent  figures  for  stumpage  prices  of 
timber  or  wood.  The  latest  available  figures  are  for  the  year  1890. 
The  following  table  gives  the  prices  of  timber  on  the  stump  for  the 
whole  tree  and  by  the  cubic  foot: 

Prices  of  saw-log  timber. 


District. 

Maximum  price  of  saw- 
log  timber. 

Minimum  price  of  saw- 
log  timber. 

Per  whole  tree. 

Per  cubic 
foot. 

Per  whole  tree. 

Per  cubic 
foot. 

Norbotten 

$0.39 
1.39 
1.73  to  1.92 
1.42  to  1.78 
1.35 
1.22  to  1.42 

Cents. 
1.6 

$0.24.2 
.52.0 
$0.39  to     .52.0 
.  52  to    1.  04 

Cents. 
0.9 

Westerbotten             

Mellerstra-Norrland 



Gefle-Dala  

Bergsland                                       .          

5.27 

.54.0 
.39  to     .52.0 

Ostra 

Vestra  

2.9 

1.72 

Smaland 

.52  to    .78 

In  the  district  of  Sodra  the  oak  wood  was  sold  on  an  average  for 
2.57  cents  per  cubic  foot.  In  the  district  of  Vestra  cord  wood  was 
sold  from  the  woods  at  2.75  to  2.87  cents  per  cubic  foot.  In  1892 
average  auction  prices  for  different  kinds  of  wood  were  as  follows: 

Auction  prices  of  timber  in  1892. 


Districts  and  provinces. 

Timber  in 
the  square, 
per  cubic 
foot. 

Sawed  tim- 
ber, per 
cubic  foot. 

Timber  for 
construc- 
tion, per 
cubic  foot. 

Cord  wood, 
per  cord. 

Norbotten  

Cents. 
2.  2  to  4.  4 

Cents. 
1.  0  to  2.  3 

Cents. 
0.  4  to  1.  7 

$0.  18  to  $0.  36 

Westerbotten  

3.7 

1.  1  to  3.  6 

34  to     .45 

Mellerstra-Norrland 

5  1  to  7  3 

2  2  to  7  2 

7  to  3  4 

Gefleborg  

2.  7  to  8.  1 

.  21  to     .93 

Kopparberg  . 

2.  6  to  4  9 

76 

WeHnland                                                            

2  6  to  3  4 

3  58 

Orebro 

2  6 

2  9  to  3  6 

2  2  to  3  6 

1  77 

Westmanland  .  . 

2  9 

1  47 

Upsala 

2  2 

3  6  to  3  9 

2  5  to  4  0 

1  10  to    1  83 

Stockholm  

3.2 

2  9 

1  96 

Ostergotland. 

2  9 

3  7 

3  2 

Gothland 

3  7 

3  2 

1  96 

Skaraborg  

2.  6  to  3.  6 

2.  6  to  3.  6 

2  9  to  3  G 

1  40  to    4  57 

Kalmar  .  . 

3  6  to  6  0 

1  6  to  4  8 

4  0 

37  to    3  08 

Jonkoping 

1  7  to  2  2 

1  7 

1  85 

Kronoberg  

1  5 

1  36 

a  Das  wirtschaftliche  Leben  der  Volker,  Leipzig,  1885. 


b  Dictionary  of  Statistics. 


26  THE  FOREST   RESOURCES   OF   THE   WORLD. 

The  lowest  prices  for  wood  were,  as  would  be  expected,  in  the 
north.  In  a  book  a  published  for  the  Paris  Exposition  the  price  of 
export  sawed  timber  of  third  quality  from  1873  to  1898  was  as 
follows:  In  1873,  18.1  cents  per  cubic  foot;  in  1874  it  was  26.8  cents. 
After  this  the  price  declined,  until  in  1879  it  was  only  10.5  cents".  In 
1883  the  price  again  reached  18.5  cents,  in  1897  it  was  20.5  cents, 
and  in  1899  it  was  an  even  21  cents  per  cubic  foot.  In  1899  and 
1900  the  price  was  still  high,  but  in  1901  it  fell. 

The  north  of  Sweden,  the  so-called  Norrland,  is  where  timber  is 
cut  for  export.  In  1892  the  export  from  Norrland  formed  85  per  cent 
of  the  total  export  from  the  Kingdom,  and  in  1898  was  73  per  cent 
of  the  total  export.  With  a  forest  area  of  49,390,000  acres,  of  which 
probably  not  less  than  10,800,000  acres  must  be  deducted  for  swamp 
and  is  not  forest  land  proper,  Sweden  has  exported  on  an  average 
for  the  three  years  1897-1899  wood  valued  at  $46,604,500,  or  at 
about  $1  per  acre.  Such  an  export  must  be  considered  very  large. 

Most  of  the  saw  logs  are  delivered  to  the  harbor  by  water. 
There  *is  not  a  single  river  in  Norrland^.  which  is  not  used  for  log 
driving.  j  &f 

One  of  the  greatest  scourges  in  Sweden,  as  in  this  country,  is  forest 
fires:  In  1887,  14,580  acres  were  thup  destroyed,  and  in  1892,  145,800 
acres. 

NORWAY. 

FOREST   AREA. 

With  a  total  land  area  of  124,130  square  miles,  Norway  possesses 
a  forest  area  of  16,848,000  acres,  or  21  per  cent  of  the  total  land  area. 
The  bulk  of  the  forests  lies  in  the  northeast,  where  the  proportion  of 
forest  is  38  per  cent ;  in  the  north  the  forest  occupies  only  6  per  cent 
of  the  land  area,  and  in  the  central  part  13  per  cent.  The  forest  area 
per  capita  is  1.25  acres. 

OWNERSHIP. 

The  state  forests  comprise  4,801,700  acres;  or  28.5  per  cent  of  the 
forest  area.  Over  one-naif  of  this  amount  is  in  the  northern  prov- 
inces of  Tromsoe  and  Finmark,-  and  of  this  only  1,970,000  acres  are 
really  productive  forest  land.  Corporation  forests  occupy  775,000 
acres,  or  4.6  per  cent;  of  this,  632,500  acres  are  productive.  Private 
foresjts  comprise  11,271,300  acres,  or  66.9  per  cent. 


COMPOSITION. 


Coniferous  forests  occupy  75  per  cent  and  hard  woods  25  per  cent 
of  the  total  forest  area.  Among  the  hard  woods  beech,  elm,  and  oak, 
especially  the  pedunculate  oak,  predominate.  However,  the  hard 
woods  do  not  play  an  important  part  economically.  Beech  forms 
forests  only  south  of  Chris  tiania,  oak  on  the  southern  and  eastern 
coasts  up  to  63°  north  latitude,  and  birch  extends  beyond  the  Arctic 
Circle  inland  as  well  as  along  the  coast. 

a  La  Suede,  eon  Peuple  et  son  Industrie. 

&  L.  Passarge.     Schweden;  Fahrt  in  Nordschweden  und  Lappland,  Berlin,  1897. 


THE   FOREST  RESOURCES   OF   THE   WORLD.  27 

The  most  common  of  all  trees  is  the  pine.  It  extends  beyond  the 
Arctic  Circle  to  70°  north  latitude,  and  forms  the  most  northern 
forest  in  existence.  It  occurs  all  over  the  country.  Its  vertical 
range  is  also  higher  than  that  of  spruce.  It  ordinarily  reaches 
maturity  at  150  years,  but  in  the  mountains  and  in  the  north  at  200 
years.  The  spruce  does  not  extend  beyond  the  Arctic  Circle,  and 
grows  on  the  western  coast  only  scattering  or  singly.  In  the  south 
it  can  be  utilized  at  an  age  of  from  70  to  80  years;  in  the  rest  of  the 
country,  between  120  and  150  years. 

In  Norway  the  growth  extends  much  farther  north  than  in  any 
other  country. 

ANNUAL  CUT,  GROWTH,  AND  CONSUMPTION. 

The  annual  cut  is  given  as  345,000,000  cubic  feet,  or  20.4  cubic 
feet  per  acre.  In  the  forests  south  of  latitude  65°  (15  provinces)  the 
annual  growth  is  estimated  at  20.5  cubic  feet  per  acre — in  the  south- 
west, as  much  as  22.6  cubic  feet;  west  and  south  of  Trondhjem,  at 
17.9  cubic  feet;  north  of  Trondhjem,  at  11.3  cubic  feet.  The  actual 
utilization  in  this  region,  however,  amounts  to  21.5  cubic  feet.  The 
convenient  access  to  the  western  coast,  with  its  deep,  sheltered  fjords, 
caused  the  depletion  of  the  forests  in  that  region.  It  is  estimated 
that  during  the  last  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  15,000  acres  of  pri- 
vate forests  have  been  cleared  each  year.  These  figures  indicate  that 
the  forests  of  Norway  are  now  being  overcut. 

One-fifth  of  the  total  cut  (69,000,000  cubic  feet)  is  exported,  and 
the  rest,  276,000,000  cubic  feet,  remains  for  home  consumption.  This, 
with  a  population  of  2,240,000,  gives  a  consumption  of  125  cubic  feet 
per  capita. 

The  peculiarity  of  the  export  is  that  the  bulk  is  in  the  form  of  logs 
and  staves  and  not  of  sawed  lumber.  Thus,  in  1895  to  1899  the 
export  of  sawed  lumber  formed  only  28  per  cent  of  the  total.  This 
is  in  contrast  to  Sweden,  which  exports  chiefly  sawed  lumber. 


WOOD   PRICES. 


There  are  no  available  statistics  regarding  wood  prices  in  Norway. 
They  can  not,  however,  be  very  different  from  those  in  Sweden. 

The  Norwegians  realize  that  at  the  present  cut  and  export,  which 
in  itself  amounts  to  83  cents  per  acre,  they  are  cutting  not  only  the 
annual  growth,  but  the  capital  itself,  and  that  therefore  the  forests 
can  not  last  very  long. 

BRITISH    INDIA. 


FOREST   AREA. 


The  total  forest  area  of  British  East  India  is  not  known.  The  area 
of  state  forests  under  the  management  of  the  forest  department  is 
nearly  149,000,000  acres.  There  are  extensive  areas  of  private  and 
village  forests,  but  they  hardly  play  an  important  part  in  the  timber 
supply  of  the  country.  Since  the  government  is  owner  of  all  land, 
except  in  places  where  it  relinquished  its  right  of  ownership  to  indi- 
viduals or  charitable  institutions,  the  present  area  of  state  forests 
probably  includes  the  greatest  part  of  all  forests.  The  forest  area 
occupies  nearly  24  per  cent  of  the  total  land  area,  and  represents  0.6 


28 


THE  FOREST  RESOURCES  OF   THE  WORLD. 


of  an  acre  per  inhabitant.  The  state  forests  are  divided  into  three 
classes:  Permanent  state  forests  (or  reserved  forests),  protected 
forests,  and  unclassed  forests. 

The  reserved  forest  forms  only  9.5  per  cent  of  the  total  land  area. 
In  the  following  table  are  given  the  areas  of  the  different  classes  of 
government  forests  in  the  various  provinces : 

TABLE  7. — Government  forests  of  India,  in  square  miles,  under  the  control  of  the  forest 

department  June  30,  1908. 


Provinces. 

Total 
area. 

Reserved. 

Protected. 

Unclassed. 

Total. 

Per  cent 
of  land 
area  un- 
der forest. 

Bengal  

152,453 

6,014 

3,567 

4,033 

13,614 

8.9 

United  provinces  of  Agra  and 
Oudh 

105.165 

4,048 

30 

77 

4,155 

3.9 

Punjab          .         

97,223 

2,456 

4,909 

1,914 

9,279 

9.5 

Burma 

162.530 

20,039 

103,  174 

123,  213 

75.8 

Central  provinces  and  Berar 

104  170 

22  672 

4 

22  676 

21.8 

Assame 

48,961 

3,778 

18,509 

22,287 

45.5 

Coorg 

1,582 

410 

39 

121 

570 

36.0 

Northwest  frontier  province  

13,276 

234 

234 

1.8 

Ajmere 

2,646 

142 

6 

148 

5.6 

Baluchistan 

9  403 

208 

208 

2.2 

Andaman 

3,143 

156 

1,795 

1,951 

62.1 

Totals: 
Bengal  Presidency 

700,  552 

60,157 

8,545 

129,633 

198,  335 

28.3 

144,389 

17,923 

1,636 

39,559 

13.5 

Bombay 

122,883 

13,  487 

1,320 

14,807 

12.0 

967,824 

91,567 

9,865 

131,269 

232,701 

24.0 

Grand  total  (acres)  

58,602,880 

6,313,600 

84,012,160 

148,928,640 

COMPOSITION. 

The  composition  of  the  Indian  forests  is  entirely  different  from  that 
of  the  United  States  or  of  Europe.  The  forests  are  almost  exclusively 
hardwood,  although  some  are  evergreen  and  some  deciduous.  The 
evergreen  forests  are  found  mainly  along  the  west  coast  of  the  penin- 
sula, in  coast  districts  of  Burma  and  Chittagpng,  and  along  the  foot 
and  lower  slopes  of  the  eastern  Himalayas.  The  deciduous  forests  are 
found  in  the  central  part  of  the  peninsula  and  of  Burma  and  contain 
the  most  valuable  timber  trees,  such  as  teak,  sal,  sandalwood,  red 
sanders,  ironwood,  padouk,  and  others.  Conifers  (pine,  firs,  and 
deodar)  are  found  at  the  higher  elevations  in  the  Himalayas. 

ANNUAL   CUT   AND   GROWTH. 

The  total  cut  for  1905-6  amounted  to  239,250,000  cubic  feet,  of 
which  171,500,000  cubic  feet  was  in  the  form  of  fuel.  Besides  this 
there  were  also  cut  210,000,000  bamboos.  If  this  cut  be  divided  by 
the  total  forest  area,  the  cut  per  acre  would  be  extremely  small,  1.6 
cubic  feet;  this  figure  does  not  really  represent  the  true  cut,  however, 
because  it  is  referred  to  an  enormous  forest  area,  of  which  only  a 
comparatively  small  portion  is  actually  utilized.  When  the  cut  is 
referred  to  a  definite  area,  the  cut  per  acre  is  much  larger — for  exam- 
ple, in  Bengal,  in  the  year  1899-1900,  from  an  area  of  5,707,800  acres 
there  were  obtained  7,340,000  cubic  feet  of  saw  timber,  34,566,000 
cubic  feet  of  firewood,  and  21,000,000  cubic  feet  of  bamboo,  or,  in  all, 


THE   FOREST  RESOURCES  OF   THE   WORLD.  29 

about  11  cubic  feet  per  acre,  and,  not  counting  the  bamboo,  only  about 
8  cubic  feet  per  acre.  Therefore,  to  get  a  better  idea  of  the  cut  per 
acre,  the  total  cut  should  be  divided  by  the  area  of  reserve  forests 
(58,602,800  acres),  which  would  make  about  3  cubic  feet  per  acre,  not 
counting  bamboo. 

There  are  no  figures  for  the  growth  per  acre.  From  a  study  made 
on  sal,  the  growth  per  acre  of  sal  coppice  was  estimated  to  be  nearly 
30  cubic  feet  per  acre  per  year.  Therefore  it  is  safe  to  assume  that 
the  annual  growth  in  the  Indian  forests  is  at  present  larger  than  the 
annual  cut. 

CONSUMPTION. 

The  timber  exports  consist  chiefly  of  teak  wood,  of  which  52,768 
tons,  or  2,638,400  cubic  feet,  were  exported  in  the  year  1905-6.  The 
exports  of  all  other  kinds  of  wood,  principally  of  bamboo,  are  insig- 
nificant. If  this  amount  be  deducted  from  the  total  cut  and  there 
were  no  importations,  there  would  be  available  236,611,600  cubic  feet 
for  a  population  of  nearly  300,000,000  inhabitants,  or  0.8  cubic  foot 
per  capita.  There  are,  however,  some  imports  of  timber  from  Canada, 
Sweden,  and  Austria,  which,  on  an  average  for  the  five  years  between 
1895  and  1900,  formed  one-eighth  the  value  of  the  total  exports.  Of 
course  these  imports  slightly  raise  the  per  capita  consumption.  Still 
the  consumption  and  cut  are  very  small,  and  the  fact  that  saw-log 
timber  is  needed  from  other  countries  indicates  the  lack  of  structural 
timber. 

WOOD   PRICES. 

The  chief  timber  of  export  is  teak,  and  its  price  at  the  point  of  ship- 
ment varies  from  about  80  to  about  85  cents  per  cubic  foot. 

ROUMANIA. 

FOREST  AREA. 

The  forests  of  Roumania  comprise  6,367,000  acres,  of  which  the 
State  owns  40  per  cent,  the  Crown  and  communities  8  per  cent,  and 
private  individuals  52  per  cent.  The  proportion  of  forest  to  land  is 
18  per  cent  and  the  area  per  capita  is  a  trifle  over  1  acre  (1.08).  Of 
the  land  classed  as  state  forests  (2,711,250  acres),  1,497,500  acres  are 
utilized,  806,250  acres  are  not  utilized,  and  407,500  acres  are  burned. 

COMPOSITION. 

Thirteen  and  one-half  per  cent  of  the  total  forest  area  is  occupied 
by  spruce  and  fir;  20  per  cent  by  beech  (also  mixed  with  conifers); 
28.3  per  cent  by  beech,  oak,  and  elm  in  mixture;  31  per  cent  by  pure 
oak  forests;  and  7.2  per  cent  by  other  hardwood  species.  The  coni- 
fers occur  chiefly  in  the  Alps  and  Carpathian  Mountains,  where  their 
exploitation  is  very  difficult.  Only  part  of  the  state  forests  are  now 
being  utilized.  The  insignificant  exploitation  is  due  to  lack  of 
capital  and  enterprise.  The  Government,  in  order  to  strengthen  the 
lumber  industry,  imposed  a  duty  on  timber,  which  increased  its  price, 
reduced  its  importation,  and  stimulated  export.  In  the  future 
Roumania  will  undoubtedly  play  an  important  part  in  supplying 
other  countries  with  timber. 


30  THE  FOREST   RESOURCES   OF   THE   WORLD. 

There  are  no  data  for  the  annual  growth  or  consumption.     Figures 
for  the  annual  cut  are  extremely  meager  and  unreliable. 


JAPAN. 

FOREST   AREA, 


The  total  forest  area  of  Japan,  exclusive  of  Formosa  and  the  Kurile 
Islands,  is  57,718,410  acres,  or  59  per  cent  of  the  total  area.  The 
forests  are  more  extensive  in  the  northern  part  and  are  practically 
confined  to  the  slopes  of  the  mountains  which  form  the  backbone  of 
the  islands.  The  greater  part  of  the  forests  belong  to  the  State.  The 
following  gives  the  distribution  of  forests  according  to  ownership : 

Distribution  of  forests  by  ownership. 


State  forests 

Crown  forests 

Municipal  forests 

Forests  of  shrines  and  temples 

Private  forests. . . 


Total. 


Area  in 
acres. 


32.813,300 

5,229,472 

4.286,885 

419,073 

14,969,680 


57,718,410 


The  state  and  crown  forests  are  carefully  managed,  but  the  private 
forests  are  not  in  such  a  high  state  of  perfection.  In  proportion  to 
population,  the  forest  area  is  quite  different  in  the  various  provinces; 
thus  in  Hokkaido  it  is  9  acres  per  capita;  in  Aomori  and  Akita,  3f 
acres;  in  Kochi,  1  acre;  in  Hiroshima  and  Kagoshima,  three-fourths 
of  an  acre;  and  in  Kumamoto  only  one-half  acre.  The  northern 
provinces  are  still  rich  in  virgin  forests. 

COMPOSITION. 

The  forests  are  divided  into  four  zones:  Tropical,  subtropical,  tem- 
perate, and  frigid. 

1.  The  tropical  forest  zone  extends  over  the  whole  of  Formosa, 
the  southern  half  of  the  Loochoo  Islands,  the  Yayemaya,  and  the 
Ogasawara  Islands.     The  banyan,  sieb,  and  bamboo  are  the  prin- 
cipal growth. 

2.  The  subtropical  forest  zone  comprises  a  portion  of  the  Loochoo 
Islands,  the  whole  of  Shikoku  and  Kyushu,  and  the  part  of  the  main 
island  lying  south  of  36°. 

3.  The  temperate  forest  zone  extends  from  the  northern  half  of 
the  main  island  to  the  southern  part  of  Hokkaido,  between  36° 
and  43°  5',  where  the  mean  annual  temperature  ranges  from  6°  to 
13°  C. 

4.  The  frigid  forest  zone  occupies  those  parts  of  the  northern  half 
of  Hokkaido  and  the  Kuriles,  where  the  average  temperature  does 
not  exceed  6°  C. 

On  t  he  whole,  the  composition  of  the  forests  is  somewhat  as  follows: 
Conifers,  21  per  cent;  broadleaf  forests,  25  per  cent;  conifers  and 

broadleaf  forests,  45  per  cent;  and  sparsely  stocked  forests,  9  per 

cent. 


THE   FOREST  RESOURCES    OF    THE    WORLD. 


31 


In  the  state  forests,  the  relative  proportions  of  the  different  kinds 
of  trees  are  as  follows : 

Conifers,  11  per  cent;  broadleaf  forests,  28  per  cent;  mixed  conifer 
and  broadleaf  forests,  49  per  cent;  and  sparsely  stocked  forests  or 
openings,  12  per  cent. 

ANNUAL  €UT,  GROWTH,  AND  CONSUMPTION. 

The  annual  cut  of  timber  for  three  successive  years  (1900  to  1902) 
was  on  an  average  2,055,059,400  cubic  feet,  or  about  35  cubic  feet  per 
acre.  If  Japan  were  not  an  exporting  country,  as  it  is  now,  at  an 
annual  cut  of  2,055,059,400  cubic  feet,  and  a  population  of  43,760,000 
(exclusive  of  Formosa),  the  annual  consumption  per  capita  would  be 
47  cubic  feet.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  exports  exceed  imports,  but  the 
exact  amount  in  cubic  feet  is  not  available.  The  actual  per  capita 
consumption  in  Japan  must  therefore  be  less  than  47  cubic  feet,  and 
an  estimated  consumption  of  30  cubic  feet  must  be  close  to  the  truth. 

There  are  no  figures  of  annual  growth  per  acre  for  the  whole 
country.  From  some  working  plans  prepared  for  the  different  state 
forests  it  appears  that  stands  of  Cryptomeria  japonica  may  produce 
as  much  as  130  cubic  feet  per  acre  per  year,  and  those  of  Thujopsis 
dolabrata  100  cubic  feet  per  year.  From  the  fact  that  the  Japanese 
manage  to  get  excellent  agricultural  crops  it  may  be  inferred  that 
they  also  know  how  to  husband  their  forest  resources  and  will  be  able 
to  supply  all  of  the  needs  of  'the  population  and  their  wonderfully 
progressive  industries. 

WOOD   PRICES. 

Below  is  given  a  table  of  wood  prices  at  Tokyo  for  the  different 
Japanese  woods  used  in  construction,  mining,  etc. 

TABLE  8. — Prices  and  uses  of  various  Japanese  woods. 

TIMBER. 


Species. 

Price  at 
Tokyo.i 

T'sedfor— 

Chamaecyparis  obtusa... 
Cryptomeria  japoniea  

.  .  .cubic  foot.  . 
...do... 

$0.40 
.25 
.275 
.275 
.15 
/        .175 
\        .20 
.25 
.40 

House,  ship,  and  bridge  construction. 
Do. 
House  and  ship  building. 
Ship  and  bridge  building,  telegraph  poles,  sleepers. 
Piles,  etc. 

mouse  building,  shingles,  pulp. 

House  and  boat  building,  ties. 
Rifle  stocks,  furniture,  carriages. 

Picea  ajanensis  
Larix  lept  olepis 

do 

do 

Finus  densiflora  

do... 

Tsuga  sieboldii 

do 

Fraxinus  mandshurica... 
Juglans  sieboldina 

do.... 

do 

Original  values  are  given  in  yen.    1  yen  equals  about  $0.50  United  States  gold. 
BOARDS. 


Cryptomeria  japonica  squaro  foot  .  . 
Thuja  japonica  do  
Zelkowa  keaki  cubic  foot.  . 
Acer  palmatum  do  

$0.  15 
.05 
.90 
.40 

Valuable  furniture  and  ornaments. 
Sh'ngles,  cabinets,  etc. 
Ship,  carriage,  and  house  building. 
Implements,  wagons,  etc. 

Fagus  sylvatica  var.  sieboldii  do  
•Quercus  acuta  do  
Quercus  crispula  do  
Cinnamornum  camphonv  do 

.125 
.35 
.25 
.55 

Boats,  sleepers,  foundations. 
Carriages,  machines,  implements. 
Fuel  and  sleepers. 
Boats  cabinets  camphor 

Magnolia  hvpoleuca  do  

.35 

Small  articles. 

32 


THE  FOREST  RESOURCES   OF   THE   WORLD. 


THE    UNITED    KINGDOM    OF    GREAT    BRITAIN    AND    IRELAND. 

FOREST   AREA. 

The  forests  of  the  United  Kingdom  occupy  but  a  small  proportion 
of  the  total  land  area.  The  area  of  woodlands  is  estimated  at 
3,030,000  acres,  or  4  per  cent  of  the  total  land  area.  Table  9  gives 
the  proportion  of  land  used  for  different  purposes: 

TABLE  9. —  Utilization  of  land  in  the  United  Kingdom. 


Countries. 

Acres  of 
dry  land. 

Acres  under 
crops  and 
grass. 

Acres  of 
forests. 

Acres  of 
mountain 
and  heath 
land. 

Acres  of 
other  lands. 

England 

32,  380,  991 

24,  679,  966 

1,  665,  741 

2,  324,  624 

3,710,660 

Wales 

4  748  468 

2  810  824 

181  610 

1  270  470 

485  564 

Scotland  

19,  068,  958 

4,  897,  169 

878,  765 

9,  289,  378 

4,003,646 

Isle  of  Man  and  Jersey 

185  453 

124  650 

869 

29  729 

30  205 

Ireland  .".  

19,  322,  798 

15,230,591 

303,  023 

2,  226,  867 

1,562,317 

Total 

75  706  668 

47  743  200 

3  030  008 

15  141  068 

9  792  392 

Percentage 

100 

63 

4 

20 

13 

The  area  under  forest  per  capita  is  one-tenth  of  an  acre.  The  area 
of  woodland  is  smaller  than  that  of  any  other  European  country 
except  Denmark.  Crown  forests  comprise  only  some  67,000  acres,  or 
2J  per  cent,  which  is  smaller  than  in  any  other  European  state. 
There  are  no  communal  forests.  Of  the  total  forest  area,  97}  per 
cent,  or  2,963,000  acres,  is  in  the  hands  of  large  private  owners. 

ANNUAL  CUT,  CONSUMPTION,  AND  GROWTH. 

The  total  cut  in  the  United  Kingdom  for  certain  periods  amounted 
to:  1855-59,  125,703,600  cubic  feet;0  1875-79,  131,353,200  cubic  feet; 
and  1895-99,  138,062,100  cubic  feet. 

Thus  the  average  cut  per  acre  may  be  accepted  as  equal  to  45.5 
cubic  feet  per  year.  Assuming  that  in  England  only  the  annual  incre- 
ment is  cut,  the  annual  growth  would  be  equal  to  the  total  cut.  Mul- 
hull  estimated  that  the  annual  growth  per  acre  is  equal  to  60  cubic 
feet,  in  which  case  the  total  annual  growth  would  be  181,800,000  cubic 
feet.  The  United  Kingdom  not  only  uses  all  that  is  cut,  but  is  im- 
pelled to  import  nearly  five  times  that  amount. 

The  total  annual  consumption  and  the  per  capita  consumption  for 
a  period  of  years  are  given  in  the  following  table : 

Annual  and  per  capita  consumption,  in  cubic  feet,  for  certain  periods. 


Period. 

Produced  at 
home. 

Imported. 

Total. 

Per 
capita. 

1855-59 

125,  703,  600 

84,037,800 

209,741,400 

27.2 

1875-79 

131,353,200 

329,  442,  300 

460,  795,  500 

12.0 

1895-99  

138,062,100 

533,181,000 

671,243,100 

14.0 

Thus  the  per  capita  consumption  is  14  cubic  feet.  Half  of  the  total 
annual  cut  is  firewood;  therefore  the  consumption  of  timber  is  602,- 
212,000,  and  of  firewood  is  69,031,000  cubic  feet;  or  the  per  capita 
consumption  of  timber  is  12.8  cubic  feet,  and  of  fuel  is  1.2  cubic  feet. 


a  Bench te  iiber  Handlung  und  Industrie  1900,  598. 


THE  FOREST  RESOURCES   OF   THE   WORLD. 

WOOD   PRICES. 


33 


Since  the  United  Kingdom  buys  nearly  half  the  total  export  of  all 
the  countries  of  the  globe,  the  wood  prices  in  the  English  market 
affect  practically  the  whole  world.  It  will,  therefore,  be  of  interest  to 
compare  the  prices  for  the  different  kinds  of  wood  imported  for  a 
long  period  or  years.  The  following  average  annual  import  prices 
are  borrowed  from  the  Statistical  Abstracts  for  the  United  Kingdom 
(1892-1900),  covering  a  period  of  twenty-four  years: 

TABLE  10. — Prices  in  cents  per  cubic  foot  of  imported  woods  in  the  United  Kingdom. 


Year. 

Round  and  hewn  logs. 

Sawed  lumber. 

Pine  and 
spruce. 

Oak. 

Teak. 

Pine  and 
spruce. 

Staves. 

1877                        

22.6 
19.7 
17.2 
19.5 
19.7 
20.2 
19.5 
17.4 
16.9 
14.9 
14.0 
15.0 
16.7 
15.4 
14.2 
14.2 
13.2 
12.6 
12.8 
13.4 
13.6 
13.9 
13.7 
14.5 

58.8 
55.6 
48.7 
54.4 
56.4 
58.2 
57.5 
54.5 
54.1 
53.7 
52.1 
51.1 
54.6 
53.8 
55.6 
55.6 
55.7 
57.0 
54.9 
56.0 
54.3 
53.4 
53.2 
55.4 

109.8 
92.8 
91.5 
114.5 
125.6 
121.6 
134.4 
137.0 
127.3 
115.1 
98.3 
109.3 
112.8 
106.7 
97.0 
100.9 
97.4 
99.2 
91.4 
100.4 
109.9 
111.2 
114.6 
117.7 

59.7 
46.2 
45.7 
42.9 
46.7 
48.9 
42.8 
38.8 
40.8 
38.4 
38.8 
38.7 
38.5 
40.5 
42.8 
41.2 
36.7 
38.7 
38.8 
49.8 
42.4 
43.8 
49.3 
46.9 

1878 

1879       

1880                                      

1881 

1882                                 

25.1 
23.5 
22.1 
21.9 
20.8 
19.8 
21.1 
23.6 
22.2 
20.2 
20.6 
20.2 
20.5 
19.7 
20.8 
22.2 
22.2 
22.8 
26.3 

1883 

1884           

1885 

1886  

1887                                          

1888 

1889                            

1890 

1891  ...             -.  

1892 

1893  

1894                                        . 

1895 

1896 

1897 

1898  

1899 

1900 

The  lowest  price  for  pine  and  spruce  logs  was  in  1894.  In  general, 
the  prices  of  log  timber  imported  into  the  United  Kingdom  were 
lower  in  the  nineties  as  compared  with  the  prices  that  prevailed  in  the 
seventies.  This  may  be  accounted  for  by  a  change  in  the  kind  and 
quantity  of  logs  imported.  In  the  seventies  the  importations  con- 
sisted chiefly  of  large  logs,  while  now  the  timber  imported  is  gener- 
ally of  smaller  size  and  a  great  deal  of  it  is  for  mine  timbers  and 
pulp.  The  prices  for  logs  are  comparatively  uniform.  Teak  is  used 
in  large  quantities  for  the  navy,  and  its  price  depends  not  only  on  the 
supply,  but  also  on  the  demand  for  it.  Lately  there  has  been  a  great 
demand  for  the  building  of  the  navy  and  merchant  marine,  which 
has  increased  the  price  of  teak. 

The  prices  for  sawed  lumber  had  fallen  greatly  by  1895,  but  since 
then  they  have  shown  a  continuous  increase.  The  prices  for  staves 
were  also  low  in  1894  and  1895,  but  lately  have  shown  a  tendency  to 
rise.  (Table  ll') 

It  is  also  of  interest  to  compare  the  prices  which  different  coun- 
tries have  commanded  for  their  timber. 

55826°— Bull.  83—10 3 


34 


THE  FOREST  RESOURCES  OF   THE   WORLD. 


TABLE  11. — Comparison  of  selling  prices,  in  cents  per  cubic  foot,  of  timber  in  various 

countries. 


1896. 

1897. 

1898. 

1899. 

1900. 

Pine  and  spruce  logs  from— 
Russia  

15  8 

16  3 

16  9 

17  6 

18  6 

Sweden  

13  3 

13  8 

13  1 

14  3 

15  7 

Norway 

13  8 

14  3 

15  0 

15  0 

16  6 

Germany  

20  2 

20  8 

21  8 

24  0 

25  2 

France 

8  1 

8  0 

8  2 

8  2 

8  9 

United  States  

28.6 

29.2 

29  0 

32  6 

38  2 

Canada 

55  0 

53  0 

50  7 

54  3 

55  0 

Pine  and  spruce  sawed  timber  from— 
Russia  

21  9 

24  1 

24  1 

25  0 

29  5 

Sweden 

21  7 

23  8 

24  0 

24  4 

27  4 

Norway  ,  

24  9 

27  0 

27  1 

27  6 

28  8 

Germany 

23  9 

25  2 

26  3 

27  6 

35  0 

.  United  States  

26.4 

26.6 

26.8 

29.2 

34.1 

Canada 

24  4 

24  7 

24  5 

25  1 

28  7 

The  highest  prices  for  hewn  as  well  as  unhewn  timber  were  com- 
manded by  Canada  and  the  United  States,  as  these  countries  supplied 
the  largest  logs.  The  timber  from  Russia  contained  a  great  deal'  of 
small  logs  for  mines.  That  from  Sweden  and  Norway  was  at  the 
lowest  prices  because  it  contained  very  small  logs.  France  ships  to 
England  pulp  wood  only,  and  such  timber  is  practically  on  a  par  with 
firewood.  For  sawed  lumber,  Germany  and  America  commanded  the 
highest  prices. 

Tables  12  and  13  are  of  interest  as  giving  details  of  timber  values. 

TABLE  12. — Stumpage  prices,  in  cents  per  cubic  foot,  of  timber  in  the  south  of  England, 

1904-1905* 


Price. 


Prime  clean  oak,  standing 

Rougher  oak 

Clean-grown  ash 

Beech,  20  inches  in  diameter  and  upward. . . 

Elm 

Good  clean  willow,  suitable  for  cricket  bats. 

Hard  woods,  small  dimensions 

Larch 

Scotch  pine  and  spruce 


44 
60 

24  to  32 
24 
60 

12  to  18 

24  to  28 

8tol6 


a  W.  Stone.    From  Trans.  Roy.  Scot.  Arb.  Soc.  1906,  pp.  204-5. 
TABLE  13. — Approximate  value,  in  cents  per  cubic  foot,  of  timber,  1902. a 


Under  15 
feet. 

15  to  25 
feet. 

25  to  50 
feet. 

50  feet 
upward. 

Oak 

30 

40 

50 

660 

Ash 

24 

36 

6  50 

Elm                          

12 

18 

624 

Beech                                                                       

18 

24 

636 

Larch 

18  to  28 

Scotch  pine                     

12  to  18 

Spruce 

8  to  12 

6  36 

Ilorso-chestnut                                                  

6  24 

Walnut  (J  regia) 

b  50 

Lime  (Tiliasp.)                    

636 

Hornbeam  (C  betulus) 

6fiO 

Sycamore  (Acer  pseudoplatanus?) 

'•:<!. 

630 

Plane 

624 

Poplar  Italian  (black)             

6*20 

Poplar  Lombardy 

66 

Birch 

624 

Maple                                            

618 

Cherry 

618 

Acacia 

624 

Box                                                             

660 

Holly 

650 

a  From  Minutes  of  Evidence,  Departmental  Committee,  British  Forestry,  1903,  p.  171. 
6  And  upward. 


THE   FOREST  RESOURCES   OF   THE   WORLD. 


35 


GERMANY. 


FOREST   AREA. 


According  to  the  latest  figures  obtained  by  the  census  of  1895,  the 
total  area  now  under  forest  in  Germany  is  34,989,675  acres.  This 
forms  25.89  per  cent  of  the  total  land  area.  The  forest  area  is  0.62 
acre  per  capita.  The  distribution  of  the  forests  in  the  different  States 
in  the  German  Empire  is  given  in  the  following  table: 

TABLE  14. — Area  of  forests  of  German  Empire,  1900. 


States. 

Total  area 
of  forests. 

Land  area 
under 
forest. 

Area  per 
capita. 

Prussia 

Acres. 
20,675,335.0 

Per  cent. 
23.7 

Acres. 
0  60 

East  Prussia 

1.611,187.5 

17.4 

80 

West  Prussia  

1,386,620.0 

21.7 

.88 

Brandenburg 

3,329,170.0 

33.4 

1.08 

P  omerania  

1,547,937.5 

20.6 

.95 

Posen 

1,432,135.0 

19.8 

.75 

Silesia  

2,904,732.5 

28.8 

.62 

Saxony 

1,339,087.5 

21.2 

.48 

Schleswig-Holstein  

315,782.5 

6.7 

.22 

Hanover  ..           .  .                                                        

1,651,495.0 

17.2 

.62 

Westphalia 

1,  415,  700.  0 

28.0 

.45 

Hesse-Nassau  .        

1,556,665.0 

39.7 

.82 

Rhineland 

2.  087,  475.  0 

30.9 

.35 

Hohenzollern  

97,347.5 

34.1 

1.45 

Bavaria  

6,166,385.0 

32.5 

1.00 

Upper  Bavaria  

1,255,190.0 

30.0 

.95 

Lower  Bavaria 

841,857.5 

31.3 

1.25 

Pfalz  

578,367.5 

39.0 

.70 

Oberpfalz    .                                                                      . 

895,  660.  0 

37.1 

1.62 

Oberiranken 

607,  395.  0 

34.7 

1.00 

Mittelfranken  .                         ...          

630,275.0 

33.3 

.78 

U  nterf  ranken 

781,317.5 

37.2 

1.20 

Swabia  

576,322.5 

23.5 

.80 

Saxony  

961,  350.  0 

25.8 

.22 

Wurttemberg 

1,501,037.5 

30.8 

.70 

Baden... 

1,419,487.5 

37.7 

.75 

Hesse                                                                                                   .  . 

600,022.5 

31.2 

.52 

Mecklenburg-Schwerin                                    • 

591,850.0 

18.0 

.98 

Saxe-Weimar.           .        

232,  720.  0 

25.8 

.65 

Meeklenburg-Strelitz 

155,562.5 

21.2 

1.52 

Oldenburg  

170,852.5 

10.6 

.42 

Brunswick                                                                    ..                              .  . 

273,682.5 

30.1 

.60 

Saxe-Meinigen 

259,  647.  5 

42.1 

1.02 

Saxe-Altenburg                                                    .           

89,757.5 

27.1 

.45 

Saxe-Coburg-Gotha 

148,  940.  0 

30.1 

.65 

Anhalt.                                                               

144,  485.  0 

25.1 

.45 

Schwarzburg-Sondershausen 

66,  777.  5 

31.0 

.82 

Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt.  .  . 

103,325.0 

43.9 

1.10 

Waldeck 

106,  987.  5 

38.2 

1.85 

Reuss  (elder  line) 

28,  132.  5 

35.6 

.40 

Reuss  (younger  line)                                                        

77,995.0 

37.8 

.55 

Schaumburg-Lippe  ' 

17,  247.  5 

20.3 

.40 

Lippe 

83,720.0 

27.6 

.60 

Lubeck 

10,  207.  5 

13.7 

.10 

Bremen 

120.0 

.2 

Hamburg                                                                             

4,467.5 

4.3 

Alsace-Lorraine 

1,099,580.0 

30.3 

.65 

German  Empire 

34,989,675.0 

25.89 

.62 

36 


THE  FOREST  RESOURCES   OF  THE  WORLD. 


Of  the  total  area,  the  state  forests  comprise  31.9  per  cent,  crown 
forests  1.8  per  cent,  communal  forests  16.1  per  cent,  institutions  and 
associations  own  3.7  per  cent,  and  private  owners  46.5  per  cent. 
Table  15  is  a  detailed  statement  showing  the  forest  areas  according 
to  ownership  in  the  different  States  and  Provinces. 

TABLE  15. — Ownership  afforests  of  German  Empire,  1900. 


State. 

Crown 
forests. 

State  and 
shared 
forests. 

Communal 
forests. 

Insti- 
tutional 
forests. 

Association 
forests. 

Private, 
forests. 

Prussia  ... 

Acres. 
181,052.5 

Acres. 
6,396,172.5 

Acres. 
2,  759,  115.  0 

Acres. 
244,930.0 

Acres. 
591,  072.  5 

Acres. 
10,502,992.5 

East  Prussia  ... 

958,450.0 
839,847.5 
997,242.5 
483,532.5 
460,652.5 
379,660.0 
429,292.5 
90,  737.  5 
600,557.5 
123,  495.  0 
652,842.5 
379,862.5 

86,  122.  5 
59,497.5 
400,967.5 
135,207.5 
29,575.0 
228,610.0 
123,900.0 
33,807.5 
116,842.5 
139,255.0 
532,  320.  0 
825,030.0 
47,980.0 

768,887.5 

12,882.5 
3,912.5 
28,662.5 
16,545.0 
20,  612.  5 
29,200.0 
16,245.0 
4,582.5 
52,432.5 
12,582.5 
31,320.0 
14,402.5 
1,550.0 

116,200.0 

7,525.0 
3,  142.  5 
5,857.5 
1,500.0 
485.0 
1,960.0 
32,627.5 
512.5 
233,485.0 
134,357.5 
103,  187.  5 
64,257.5 
2,  175.  0 

50,037.5 

546,  207.  5 
480,112.5 
1,785,577.5 
890,060.0 
918,930.0 
2,223,912.5 
731,302.5 
186,142.5 
648,177.5 
1,006,010.0 
236,995.0 
803,922.5 
45,642.5 

3,138,417.5 

West  Prussia 

107.5 
110,862.5 
21,092.5 
1,880.0 
41,390.0 
5,  720.  0 

Brandenburg  

Pomerania  " 

Posen  

Silesia  .. 

Saxony  

Schleswig-Holstein 

Hanover 

Westphalia  

Hesse-Nassau 

Rhineland  .  *  

Hohenzollern 

Bavaria 

4,247.5 

2,088,592.5 

Upper  Bavaria 

170.0 
95.0 
62.5 
230.0 
200.0 
2,060.0 
10.0 
1,420.0 

160.0 
16,205.0 
20,  657.  5 
166,215.0 
19,107.5 
125.0 
3,242.5 
932.5 

480,920.0 
162,615.0 
286,017.5 
298,907.5 
234,757.5 
200,222.5 
250,237.5 
174,915.0 

434,650.0 
468,  790.  0 
240,145.0 
12,302.5 
248,547.5 
110,597.5 
102,  692.  5 
64,362.5 
200,965.0 
110,147.5 
15,545.0 
86,807.5 
59,557.5 

350.0 

4X.X75.0 
66,887.5 

27,  147.  5 
6,665.0 
212,955.0 
21,560.0 
28,077.5 
88,005.0 
286,952.5 
97,525.0 

57.750.0 
445,487.5 
639,515.0 
217,375.0 
56,662.5 
35,562.5 
12,220.0 
18,065.0 
4,065.0 
60,807.5 
1,905.0 
18,410.0 
2,942.5 

8,570.0 
11,560.0 
23,007.5 
300.0 
2,565.0 
2.5 
9,142.5 
12.5 

18,375.0 
10,302.5 
2,  692.  5 
19,972.5 
8,822.5 
10,972.5 
20,597.5 
24,465.0 

25,070.0 
36,317.5 
47,362.5 
1,690.0 
29,  797.  5 
3,927.5 
545.0 
1,400.0 
632.5 
1,950.0 
2,360.0 
915.0 
1,760.0 

625.0 
1,170.0 
497.5 
680.0 
1,712.5 
10.0 
312.5 
1,362.5 

1,007.5 
145.0 
875.0 
455.0 
5,  790.  0 
3,412.5 
27,772.5 
10,580.0 

1,612.5 
18,387.5 
5,037.5 
5,565.0 

727,570.0 
662,035.0 
75,7(55.0 
554.535.0 
329,747.5 
325,602.5 
195,  747.  5 
267,  415.  0 

442,  107.  5 
515,850.0 
466,  770.  0 
196,875.0 
237,735.0 
79,295.0 
36,862.5 
86,  045.  0 
23,327.5 
63,497.5 
40,592.5 
25,412.5 
30,937.5 

8,  2GT.  0 
39,59/.5 
14,  620.  0 
16,300.0 
32,  420.  0 
1,027.5 
35,000.0 
1,507.5 
120.0 
1,515.0 
221,382.5 

Lower  Bavaria.  .  . 

Pfalz.                

Oberpfalz 

Obenranken  

Mittelfranken 

Swabia 

Saxony  .  . 

Wurttemberg 

Baden  

Hesse 

Mecklenburg-Schwerin  
Saxe-Weimar 

3,212.5 

Mecklenburg-Strelitz  

Oldenburg.. 

47.5 
44,692.5 
22,985.0 
1,257.5 
8,910.0 
207.6 

7,  155.  0 
2,  122.  5 
1,975.0 

BrunswicK 

Saxe-Meiningen  . 

260.0 
28,097.5 
8,485.0 
49,080.0 

41,872.5 

Saxe-  A  Itenburg 

Saxe-Coburg-Gotha  
Anhalt 

Schwarzburg-  Sondershau- 
sen  . 

Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt 

Waldeck  

Reuss  (elder  line) 

10,852.5 
41,250.0 
16,207.5 
35,205.0 

Reuss  (younger  line)  

35.0 
2,815.0 
7,325.0 

12.5 

Schaumburg-Lippe. 

Lippe 

1,245.0 

Lubeck           

Bremen 

Hamburg  

2,647.5 
380,897.5 

282.5 
491,015.0 

22.5 
6,285.0 

Alsace-Lorraine 

German  Empire  

643,255.0 

11,149,707.5 

5,645,227.5 

527,535.0 

765,535.0 

16,  258,  412.  5 

THE  FOREST  RESOURCES  OF  THE  WORLD.  37 

TABLE  15. — Ownership  of  forests  of  German  Empire,  1900 — Continued. 


State. 

Crown 
forests. 

State  and 
shared 
forests. 

Com- 
munal 
forests. 

Insti- 
tutional 
forests. 

Associa- 
tion 
forests. 

Private 
forests. 

Prussia          

Per  cent. 
0.9 

Per  cent. 
30.9 

Per  cent. 
13.3 

Per  cent. 
1.2 

Per  cent. 
2  9 

Per  cent. 
50  8 

East  Prussia  

59.5 

5.3 

.8 

.5 

33  9 

West  Prussia 

60.6 

4.3 

.3 

2 

34  6 

Brandenburg 

3.3 

30  0 

12  0 

9 

2 

53  6 

Pomerania  

1.4 

31.2 

8.7 

1.1 

.1 

57  5 

Posen 

.1 

32  2 

2.1 

1  4 

64  2 

Silesia  

1.4 

13.1 

7.9 

1.0 

.1 

76  5 

Saxony 

.4 

32.1 

9.3 

1.2 

2  4 

54  6 

Schleswig-Holstein 

28  7 

10.7 

1  4 

2 

59  0 

Hanover     

36.4 

7.1 

3.2 

14.1 

39  2 

Westphalia 

8.7 

9.8 

9 

9  5 

•     71  i 

Hesse-Nassau  

42.0 

34.2 

2.0 

6.6 

15  2 

Rhineland       ... 

18.2 

39.5 

.7 

3.1 

38  5 

Hohenzollern 

49.3 

1  6 

2  2 

46  9 

Bavaria 

.1 

33  8 

12.5 

1  9 

3 

50  9 

Upper  Bavaria 

38  3 

2.2 

1.4 

.1 

58  0 

Lower  Bavaria 

19  3 

g 

1  2 

78  7 

Pfalz  

49.5 

36.8 

.4 

.2 

13  1 

Oberpfalz 

33  4 

2.4 

2  2 

1 

61  9 

Oberfranken       

38.6 

4.6 

1.5 

1.0 

54  3 

Mittelfranken                           ' 

.3 

31.8 

14.0 

1.7 

5 

51  7 

Unterfranken  .  .  . 

32.0 

36.7 

2.6 

3.6 

25.1 

Swabia   

.2 

30.4 

16.9 

4.3 

1.8 

46  4 

Saxony  

45.2 

6.0 

2.6 

.2 

46  0 

Wurttemberg  . 

1.1 

31.2 

29.7 

2  4 

1  2 

34  4 

Baden  

1.5 

16.9 

45.1 

3.3 

.3 

32.9 

Hesse     

27.7 

2.1 

36.2 

.3 

.9 

32  8 

Mecklenburg-Schwerin  

3.2 

42.0 

9.6 

5.0 

40.2 

Saxe-  Weimar        

47.5 

15.3 

1.7 

1.4 

34  1 

Mecklenburg-Strelitz  

2.1 

66.0 

7.9 

.3 

23.7 

Oldenburg  

.5 

37.7 

10.6 

.8 

50.4 

Brunswick 

73.5 

1.5 

.2 

16.3 

8  5 

Saxe-Meiningen  

.1 

42.4 

23.4 

.7 

8.9 

24.5 

Saxe-Altenburg 

31.3 

17.3 

2.1 

2.6 

1.4 

45.3 

Saxe-Coburg-Gotha 

5.7 

58.3 

12.4 

.6 

6.0 

17  0 

Anhalt  

34.0 

41.2 

2.1 

1.2 

21.4 

Schwarzburg-Sondershausen 

62.7 

.5 

12.8 

1.0 

10.7 

12.3 

Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt.  .. 

47.3 

11.2 

1.1 

2.1 

38.3 

Waldeck  

62.5 

21.5 

.5 

1.8 

13.7 

Reuss  (elder  line) 

38.6 

1.1 

2.4 

57  9 

Reuss  (younger  line)  

52.9 

3.3 

2.2 

41.6 

Schaumburg-Lippe 

94.0 

6.0 

L/ippe 

42.0 

3.4 

10.9 

.4 

1.5 

41  8 

Lubeck      

71.8 

.1 

13.3 

14.8 

Bremen 

100.0 

Hamburg  

59.3 

6.3 

.5 

33.9 

Alsace-Lorraine           .... 

34.6 

44.7 

.6 

20.1 

German-  Empire     

1.8 

31.9 

16.1 

1.5 

2.2 

46.5 

.  The  forest  area  has  changed  comparatively  little  since  1878.  In 
some  parts  of  the  Empire  there  has  been  a  decrease,  but  in  the  country 
as  a  whole  there  has  been  a  steady  increase.  The  following  table 
shows  the  changes  mentioned : 

Increase,  in  acres,  in  forest  area  of  German  Empire. 


Total  wooded 
area. 

Increase. 

1878 

34,  682,  315.  0 

1883                                              

34,  770,  995.  0 

88,680.0 

1893                                                                          

34,  892,  067.  5 

121,  072.  5 

1900 

34,  989,  670.  0 

97,  602.  5 

Total                                                  

307,355.0 

38 


THE  FOREST  RESOURCES  OP  THE  WORLD. 


The  Government  has  determined  the  area  that  may  be  converted 
into  forests.  This  potential  forest  area  has  been  computed  at  1,583,000 
acres,  or  4J  per  cent  of  the  present  total  forest.  Of  this,  1,362,500 
acres  are  in  Prussia  alone,  which  would  increase  the  present  forest 
area  by  6.6  per  cent.  Prussia  is  doing  a  great  deal  in  bringing  under 
forest  much  of  its  waste  land.  Thus  from  1867  to  1892,  336,582 
acres  of  waste  land  were  bought  at  $16  per  acre  to  plant  to  forest,  and 
from  1883  to  1902,  182,782  acres  were  brought  under  forest,  or  an 
average  of  9,140  acres  per  year.  On  October  1,  1903,  the  Prussian 
forest  administration  possessed  91,202  acres  of  waste  land,  which  it 
intended  to  plant  with  trees. 


COMPOSITION. 


Of  the  forests,  32J  per  cent  are  covered  with  hard  woods  and  67J 
per  cent  with  conifers.  The  constant  tendency  is  to  increase  the 
latter  at  the  expense  of  the  former. 

The  following  figures  show  the  progress  made  in  this  direction: 


Hard  woods. 

Conifers. 

1883                                                                                                                             .  .  .•  

Acres. 
12,006,450 

Acres. 
22,  764,  545 

1893 

11,668,025 

23,  207,  800 

1900  

8,  862,  000 

23,627,673 

Thus  in  1883  the  hard  woods  occupied  34 J  per  cent  instead  of 
per  cent,  and  the  conifers  65£  per  cent  instead  of  the  present  67  J  per 
cent.  The  remainder  of  the  forest,  comprising  2,699,997  acres,  is  a 
mixed  composition  of  hard  wood  and  conifers.  In  Table  16  are  given 
detailed  figures  of  the  composition  of  the  forest  and  the  areas  under 
different  methods  of  management. 

TABLE  16. — Percentage  of  forest  composition,  by  states,  in  Germany. 


Hard  woods. 


States  and  provinces. 

Total. 

Coppice. 

Composite 
forest. 

Selection 
forest. 

High 
forest. 

Per  cent. 
30.9 

Percent. 
7.9 

Per  cent. 
2.6 

Per  cent. 
3.0 

Per  cent. 
17.4 

East  Prussia             

20.3 

3.1 

1.3 

3.4 

12.5 

West  Prussia 

11.1 

2.0 

.5 

1.6 

7.0 

Brandenburg  

7.3 

1.2 

.2 

.6 

5.3 

Pomerania                        

25.6 

3.2 

2.4 

4.4 

15.6 

Posen 

12.5 

2.1 

1.5 

2.0 

6  9 

Silesia  

12.6 

5.1 

3.3 

1.3 

2.9 

Saxony                               

27.9 

3.9 

5.0 

4.1 

14.9 

Schleswig-Holstein 

64.5 

6.8 

4.9 

10.4 

42  4 

Hanover  . 

36.2 

3.6 

4.1 

3.6 

24.9 

Westphalia                             

67.2 

22.2 

5.1 

10.2 

29.7 

Hesse-Nassau 

65.9 

8.6 

1.1 

1.4 

54  8 

Rhineland  

73.5 

34.3 

4.8 

3.5 

30.9 

Hohenzollern                   .         

41.0 

1.3 

1.0 

3.4 

35.3 

Bavaria        

24.6 

4.6 

7.6 

1.2 

11.2 

Upper  Bavaria 

7.5 

2.0 

1.2 

4 

.3 

Lower  Bavaria      

16.5 

1.3 

1.1 

14 

.1 

Oberpfalz 

3.9 

.7 

.6 

2 

.6 

Obenranken 

13.5 

4.0 

3.4 

j 

.1 

Mittelfranken        

17.8 

3.5 

6.4 

1 

.9 

Unterfranken             .        .  .           .... 

65.6 

11.3 

17.7 

36 

.6 

Swabia..                          ....... 

25.5 

4.5 

8.3 

12 

.7 

THE  FOREST  RESOURCES  OF  THE  WORLD.  39 

TABLE  16. — Percentage  of  forest  composition,  by  states,  in  Germany — Continued. 


States  and  provinces. 

Hard  woods. 

Total. 

Coppice. 

Composite 
forest. 

Selection         High 
forest.           forest. 

Saxony  

Per  cent. 
11.3 
38.5 
50.3 
58.4 
36.6 
35.8 
35.4 
50.9 
59.4 
24.8 
66.9 

Per  cent. 
4.5 
.8 
8.6 
10.3 
9.0 
7.6 
3.2 
16.6 
.5 
2.0 
6.2 

Per  cent. 
3.4 
12.7 
10.1 
.2 
2.7 
4.5 
9.3 
.5 
8.1 
10.4 
22.8 

Percent. 
1.3 
1.9 
.3 
.1 
1.9 
2.1 
4.3 

Percent. 
2.1 
23.1 
31.3 
47.8 
23.0 
21.6 
18.6 
33.8 
49.8 
10.2 
37.4 

W  urttem  berg 

Baden.  .  . 

Hesse       ... 

Mecklen  burg-Sch  werin 

Mecklenburg-Strelitz  

Saxe-  Weimar 

Oldenburg  

B  raunsch  weig 

1.0 
2.2 
.5 

Saxe-Meiningen  

Alsace-Lorraine  

German  Empire  

32.5 
33.5 
34.5 

6.8 
6.0 
6.5 

5.0 
5.5 
6.5 

2.3                 18.4 
22  0 
21.5 

1893 

1883 

States  and  provinces. 

Conifers. 

Total. 

Selection 
forest. 

High 
forest. 

Pine. 

Larch. 

Spruce. 

Fir. 

Prussia. 

Per  cent. 
69.1 

Per  cent. 
8.5 

Per  cent. 
60.6 

Per  cent. 
57.5 

Per  cent. 
0.1 

Per  cent. 
11.2 

Per  cent. 
0.2 

East  Prussia  

79.7 
88.9 
92.7 
74.4 
87.5 
87.4 
72.1 
35.5 
'63.8 
32.8 
34.1 
26.5 
59.0 

75.4 

17.9 
8.2 
9.7 
11.2 
12.0 
8.1 
9.2 
5.1 
9.4 
7.5 
.9 
2.0 
3.5 

8.0 

61.8 
80.7 
83.0 
63.2 
75.5 
79.3 
62.9 
30.4 
54.4 
25.3 
33.2 
24.5 
55.5 

67.4 

51.0 
88.0 
92.3 
72.0 
86.9 
71.5 
59.8 
15.5 
46.5 
14.6 
16.6 
11.9 
8.8 

30.0 

28.4 
.8 
.4 

West  Prussia 

Brandenburg  

Pomerania  ..... 

.2 
.4 
15.2 
12.1 
19.5 
16.9 
17.6 
17.3 
14.3 
40.8 

40.5 

3 
2 
3 

Posen 

.1 
.3 
.1 
.1 
.2 
.3 
.2 
.1 

Silesia  . 

Saxony  

Schleswig-Holstein  

Hanover 

Westphalia  

Hesse-Naussau 

Rhineland 

2 
9  4 

4.8 

Hohenzollern 

Bavaria  

.1 

Upper  Bavaria 

92.5 
83.5 
96.1 
86.5 
82.2 
34  4 

10.3 
19.2 
61.2 
39.7 
53.4 
25.1 
3.5 

30.0 
8.6 
11.6 
34.1 
60.4 
63.7 
39.4 
43.9 
7.4 
27.4 
11.1 

1.0 
.7 
.4 
.2 
.3 
.8 
.4 

.2 
.1 
.1 
.2 
.1 

81 
63 
34 
46 
28 
8 
7( 

58.1 
39.9 
25.6 
7.3 
2.5 
.5 

.2 
.6 
.5 
.6 
.5 
.5 
.6 

.4 
12.9 
12.4 

Lower  Bavaria  

Oberpfalz 

Oberfranken  

Mittelfranken 

Unterfranken 

Swabia 

74.5 

88.7 
61.5 
49.7 
41.6 

Saxony  

10.0 
5.5 
3.2 

78.7 
56.0 
46.5 
41.6 
61.2 
61.7 
59.9 
49.1 
39.0 
57.2 
32.6 

Wurttemberg 

Baden  

Hesse 

Mecklenburg-Sch  werin  

63.4 
64.2 
64.6 
49  1 

2.2 
2.5 
4.7 

.4 

Mecklenburg-Strelitz 

Saxe-Weimar  

.1 

.2 
.1 
.5 

24.8 
5.0 
33.1 
46.8 
2.8 

.3 

Oldenburg 

Braunschweig 

40.6 
75.2 
33.1 

1.6 
18.0 
.5 

Saxe-Meiningen             

.4 

19.2 

A  Isace-Lorrame 

German  Empire      

67.5 
66.5 
65.5 

7.4 

60.1 

44.6 
41.8 
42.6 

.1 
.3 
.3 

20.1 
22 
22 

2.7 
.5 
.6 

1893 

1883 

ANNUAL  CUT. 


The  total  cut  as  given  for  the  year  1899-1900  is  1,706,223,000  cubic 
feet  of  timber,  or  48.7  cubic  feet  per  acre.  The  following  tables  give 
a  clear  idea  of  the  annual  cut  for  the  whole  Empire,  as  well  as  for 
the  different  States  comprising  it . 


40 


THE  FOREST  RESOURCES   OF   THE  WORLD. 


Yield  of  wood,  1899-1900. 


Actual  amount. 

Total  cut. 

Amount 
per  acre. 

Timber  (nutzholz)  a  ... 

Cubicfeet. 
706,564,000 
630,032,000 

Per  cent. 
41.4 
36.9 

Cubicfeet. 
20.2 
17.9 

Firewood  

Total  of  wood  over  2|  inches  diameter  (derbholz)  a 

1,336,596,000 
369,627,000 

78.3 
21.7 

38.1 
10.6 

Stump  and  fagot  wood  . 

Total  production  

1,706,223,000 

100.0 

48.7 

,  inches  in  diameter  at  the  small  end;  therefore  this  term 
will  cover  saw  logs,  mine  timber,  posts,  poles,  and  also  such  firewood  as  exceeds  this  dimension.  Nutzholz 
applies  only  to  saw-log  timber,  in  distinction  from  all  other  kinds  of  derbholz. 

TABLE  17.—  Yield  of  all  German  forests,  by  states,  for  the  year  1899-1900. 


States. 

Timber. 

Per  cent 
of  derb- 
holz. 

Firewood. 

Per  cent 
of  derb- 
holz. 

Prussia  

Cubicfeet. 
341,033,000 
153,026,000 
36,818,000 
44,972,000 
39,889,000 
10,308,000 
9,460,000 
5,824,000 
2,365,000 
1.447,000 
7,272,000 
6,884,000 
3,177,000 
3,636,000 
3,106,000 
1,694,000 
2,612,000 
1,024,000 
812,000 
3,459,000 
494,000 
1,165,000 
141,000 
25,946,000 

53.5 
53.0 
75.1 
55.1 
48.0 
35.7 
33.2 
55.8 
40.8 
54.7 
49.2 
57.3 
67.7 
55.4 
52.7 
58.5 
67.3 
33.7 
74.2 
82.4 
63.6 
36.7 
26.7 
45.8 

Cubicfeet. 
296,308,000 
135,976,000 
12,214,000 
36,712,000 
43,242,000 
18,532,000 
19,062,000 
4,624,000 
3,424,000 
1,200,000 
7,519,000 
5,118,000 
1,518,000 
2,930,000 
2,789,000 
1,200,000 
1,271,000 
2,012,000 
282,000 
741,000 
282,000 
2,012,000 
388,000 
30,676,000 

46.5 
47.0 
24.9 
44.9 
52.0 
64.3 
66.8 
44.2 
59.2 
45.3 
50.8 
42.7 
32.3 
44.6 
47.3 
41.5 
32.7 
66.3 
25.8 
17.6 
36.4 
63.3 
73.3 
54.2 

Bavaria  

Saxony  

Wurttemberg 

Hesse. 

Mecklenburg-Schwerin  

Saxe-  Weimar  

Mecklenburg-Strelitz 

Oldenburg  

BrunswicK 

Saxe-Meiningen  

Saxe-Altenburg.  . 

Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.  .  . 

Anhalt  

Schwarzburg-Sondershausen 

Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt.  .  . 

Waldeck 

Reuss  (elder  line)  

Reuss  (younger  line) 

Schaumburg-Lippe  «  

Lippe  

Lubeck,  Bremen,  and  Hamburg 

Alsace-Lorraine  

German  Empire 

706,564,000 

52.9 

630,032,000 

47.1 

States. 

Total  yield 
of  derbholz. 

Derbholz 
per  acre. 

Stump  and  fagot  wood. 

Total. 

Per  acre. 

Prussia 

Cubicfeet. 
637,341,000 
289,002,000 
49,032,000 
81,684,000 
83,131,000 
28.840,000 
28,522,000 
10,448,000 
5,789,000 
2,647,000 
14,791,000 
12,002,000 
4,695,000 
6,566,000 
5,895,000 
2,894,000 
3,883,000 
3,036,000 
1,094,000 
4,200,000 
776,000 
3,177,000 
529,000 
56,622,000 

Cubicfeet. 
30.8 
46.9 
51.0 
54.4 
58.6 
48.0 
48.1 
44.9 
37.3 
15.5 
54.2 
46.2 
52.2 
44.1 
40.8 
43.3 
37.6 
28.4 
39.0 
53.9 
45.0 
38.0 
35.7 
51.5 

Cubicfeet. 
225,108,000 
17,085,000 
16,485,000 
21,498,000 
22,416,000 
13,449,000 
6,460,000 
3,742,000 
741,000 
1,447,000 
4,907,000 
4,307,000 
1,765,000 
2,436,000 
2,153,000 
565,000 
1,200,000 
1,624,000 
459,000 
1,977,000 
459,000 
988,000 
459,000 
17,897,000 

Cubicfeet. 
10.9 
2.8 
16.9 
14.3 
15.7 
22.5 
10.9 
16.0 
4.8 
8.5 
17.9 
16.7 
19.8 
16.2 
14.8 
8.8 
11.9 
15.2 
15.8 
25.1 
27.0 
11.7 
30.5 
16.4 

Bavaria 

Saxony 

Wurttemberg.  . 

Baden 

Hesse  

Mecklenburg-Schwerin 

Saxe-Weimar 

Mecklenburg-Strelitz. 

Oldenburg                                          * 

BrunswicK  

Saxe-Meiningen 

Saxe-Altenburg  

Saxe-Coburg-Gotha  .   . 

Anhalt 

Schwarzburg-Sondershausen  

Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt  

Waldeck 

Reuss  (elder  line)  

Reuss  (younger  line) 

Schaumburg-Lippe 

Lippe  

Lubeck.  Bremen,  and  Hamburg 

Alsace-Lorraine.  '.  ."  

German  Empire 

1,336,596,000 

38.1 

369,627,000 

10.6 

THE  FOREST  RESOURCES  OF  THE  WORLD.  41 

Yield  of  the  German  forests  according  to  ownership,  1900. 


Yield  per 
acre. 

Derbholz— 

Stump 
and  fagot 
wood  per 
acre. 

Yield  per 
acre. 

Timber. 

Total  yield- 

Timber. 

Firewood. 

Split  and 
round 
firewood. 

Stump 
and  fagot 
wood. 

Crown  forests 

Cubic  feet. 
46.9 

48.6 
37.7 
47.0 
29.1 
31.1 

42.9 

27.7 

Per  cent. 
52.0 

57.1 
43.8 
51.2 
35.8 
53.1 

55.9 
51.8 

Per  cent. 
48.0 

42.9 

56.2 
48.8 
64.2 
46.9 

44.1 

48.2 

Cubic  feet. 
16.7 

9.9 
15.4 
13.3 
15.4 
8.8 

10.7 
8.3 

Cubic  feet. 
63.6 

58.5 
.    53.1 
60.3 
44.5 
39.9 

53.6 
36.0 

Per  cent. 
38.4 

47.4 
31.1 
39.9 
23.4 
41.3 

44.7 
39.9 

Per  cent. 
35.4 

35.7 
40.0 
38.1 
42.0 
36.6 

35.3 
37.1 

Per  cent. 
26.2 

16.9 
28.9 
22.0 
34.6 
22.1 

20.0 
23.0 

State  and  state  man- 
aged   

Communal 

Institution  

Association 

Private  

Entailed    or    in 
trust 

Other  private  for- 
ests    .  . 

The  state  forests  evidently  yield  the  largest  per  cent  of  timber. 

Contribution  of  each  class  of  ownership  to  total  wood  production  of  the  German  Empire. 


Timber. 

Firewood. 

Total  derbholz. 

Stump  and  fagot 
wood. 

Per 
cent  of 
the 
total 
wood 
area. 

Cubic  feet. 

Per 

cent. 

Cubic  feet. 

Per 
cent. 

Cubic  feet. 

Per 
cent. 

Cubic  feet. 

Per 

cent. 

Crown,  state,  and 
part  state  forests. 
Communal  and  in- 
stitution   . 

324,313,000 

105,985,000 
7,772.000 
268,494,000 

45.9 

15.0 
1.1 
38.0 

246,972,000 

131,677,000 
14,491,000 
236,892,000 

39.2 

20.9 
2.3 
37.6 

572,063,000 

236,578,000 
22,722,000 
505,233,000 

42.8 

17.7 
1.7 
37.8 

121,238,000 

93,515.000 
11,828,000 
143,046,000 

32.8 

25.3 
3.2 
38.7 

33.7 

17.6 
2.2 
46.5 

Association 

Private  

German  Empire.  .  . 

706,504,000 

100.0 

630,032,000 

100.0 

1,336,596,000 

100.0 

369,627,000 

100.0 

100.0 

This  shows  that  the  state  forests,  with  only  33.7  per  cent  of  the 
total  forest  area,  produce  43  per  cent  of  the  derbholz  and  46  per  cent 
of  the  timber;  while  the  private  forests,  with  46.5  per  cent  of  the 
total  area,  produce  only  38  per  cent  of  derbholz  and  of  timber. 

TABLE  18. — Timber  yield  of  the  German  state  forests  in  percentage  of  the  total  wood  yield 
and  of  the  yield  of  material  over  21  inches  in  diameter. 


Year. 

Prussia. 

Bavaria. 

Sax- 
ony. 

Wurt- 
tem- 
berg. 

Baden. 

Alsace- 
Lor- 
raine. 

Bruns- 
wick. 

Total 
yield. 

Yield 
over  2f 
inches. 

Total 
yield. 

Yield, 
over  22 
inches. 

Yield 
over  2f 
inches. 

Yield 
over  2J 
inches. 

Total 
yield. 

Yield 
over  2J 
inches. 

Total 
yield. 

Yield 
over  2J 
inches. 

1890 

Per  ct. 
36 
36 
36 
36 
44 
41 
40 
43 
45 
47 
48 
48 
45 

Perct. 
47 
46 
46 
47 
53 
51 
50 
54 
56 
60 
60 
59 
55 

Per  ct. 
40 
50 
50 
37 
40 
42 
45 
46 
44 
45 
45 
42 
43 

Per  ct. 
46 
55 
55 
43 
46 
48 
50 
51 
50 
51 
52 
48 
49 

Per  ct. 
80 
79 
79 
78 
78 
79 
79 
80 
81 
81 
82 
80 
79 

Perct. 
54 
51 
54 
52 
52 
53 
52 
54 
56 
57 
58 
57 
58 

Perct. 
34 
32 
32 
32 
33 
37 
40 
41 
40 
40 
40 
38 
42 

Perct. 
42 
39 
39 
39 
40 
44 
47 
49 
47 
48 
47 
46 
50 

Perct. 
40 
38 
54 
39 
38 
41 
42 
43 
47 
47 
44 
39 
47 
52 

Perct. 

1891. 

1892 

1893 

1894 

1895  

52 
54 
55 
53 
50 
52 
50 
50 

1896 

1897... 

1898.... 

1899 

1900  

1901 

1902 

1903 

42 


THE  FOREST  RESOURCES  OF  THE  WORLD. 


Yield  according  to  species. — The  average  yield  of  derbholz  (wood 
over  2f  inches  in  diameter)  is  greater  for  conifers  than  for  the  broad- 
leaf  species.  The  yield  of  the  state  forests  in  Wurttemberg  per  acre 
gives  the  following  result : 

Yield  of  state  forests  per  acre. 


Year. 

Broadleaf  species. 

Conifers. 

Total  yield. 

Wood  over 
2*  inches 
diameter. 

Fagot 
wood. 

Total  yield. 

Wood  over 
2J  inches 
diameter. 

Fagot 
wood. 

1861-70 

Cubicfeet. 

Cubicfeet. 
40.9 
40.9 
40.2 
53.4 
53.1 
59.4 
60.2 

Per  cent. 

Cubicfeet. 

Cubicfeet. 
72.0 
81.9 
74.0 
79.6 
74.0 
78.5 
82.9 

Per  cent. 

1874-76 

59.3 
60.2 
72.6 
71.9 
77.0 
78.9 

31 
33 
27 
26 
23 
24 

91.8 
84.6 
91.8 
85.7 
91.4 
97.4 

11 
13 
13 

15 
14 
15 

1882  

1888 

1895  

1900.. 

1901 

Forests  in  coppice  and  compound  coppice  yield  less  than  high 
forests;  e.  g.,  in  the  state  forests  of  Baden  the  yield  per  acre  for  high 
forests  from  1892  to  1896  was  79.5  cubic  feet,  and  from  1879  to  1901, 
91.2  cubic  feet ;  for  coppice  and  compound  coppice,  from  1892  to  1896, 
55.1  cubic  feet,  and  from  1897  to  1901,  65.7  cubic  feet. 

The  German  Empire,  with  an  annual  production  of  48.7  cubic  feet 
per  acre,  shows  the  highest  wood  production  of  all  European  coun- 
tries. Of  the  different  kinds  of  forests,  the  state  and  crown  forests 
produce  the  greatest  amount  of  wood  per  acre  per  year — 63.6  cubic 
reet  against  39.9  cubic  feet  in  private  forests.  At  the  same  time  the 
state  forests  produce  the  largest  percentage  of  saw-log  timber — 57.1 
per  cent  against  53.1  per  cent  in  private  forests.  Of  all  the  States 
Saxony  produces  the  largest  proportion  of  saw-log  timber.  The  dif- 
ferent States  may  be  arranged  in  the  order  of  their  production  of 
saw-log  timber  as  follows : 

Distribution  of  saw-log  timber  by  states. 


States. 

Per  cent. 

States. 

Per  cent. 

Saxony               

75 

Brunswick 

49 

Saxe-Meiningen 

57 

Baden 

48 

Wurttemberg  

55 

Alsace-Lorraine  .  .  . 

46 

Prussia  .             .                        

54 

Hesse 

36 

Bavaria 

53 

\fecklenburg-Sch  werin 

33 

Although  Prussia  includes  59.1  per  cent  of  the  forest  area  of  the 
Empire,  it  furnishes  only  47.6  per  cent  of  the  total  production  of 
timber  over  2J  inches,  and  only  48.3  per  cent  of  the  timber  production 
of  the  Empire ;  in  each  case  less  than  half. 

Bavaria,  Wurttemberg,  Baden,  Alsace-Lorraine,  Hesse,  and  Saxony, 
which  together  include  33.5  per  cent  of  the  total  forest  area,  produce 
44  per  cent  both  of  wood  over  2f  inches  and  of  timber. 

The  largest  percentage  of  saw-log  timber  does  not  necessarily  mean 
production  of  the  largest  amount  of  all  kinds  of  wood  over  2f  inches 
in  diameter  at  the  small  end. 


THE  FOREST  RESOURCES  OP  THE  WORLD. 


43 


In  the  following  table  states  with  over  250,000  acres  of  woodland 
are  arranged  according  to  the  production  of  derbholz: 

Distribution  of  derbholz  by  states. 


States. 

Cubic 
feet  per 
acre. 

States. 

Cubic 
feet  per 
acre. 

Baden                           

58.6 

Hesse  

48.0 

W  urttemberg 

54.4 

Bavaria  

46  9 

54.2 

Pfalz 

44  2 

Alsace-Lorraine                       

51.5 

On  the  right  of  the  Rhine  

47.0 

51.0 

Saxe-Meiningen 

46  2 

Mecklenburg-Schwerin         

48.1 

Prussia  

30.8 

ANNUAL   GROWTH  AND   PRESENT   STAND. 


Since  the  principle  underlying  the  management  of  practically  all 
the  forests  is  to  cut  merely  the  annual  increment  and  to  leave  intact 
the  forest  capital,  it  may  be  safely  assumed  that  the  annual  cut  is 
equal  to  the  annual  growth.  In  some  cases  the  annual  cut  has  been 
made  smaller  than  the  annual  increment,  in  order  to  increase  the 
forest  capital  so  as  to  produce  larger  annual  increments  in  the  future. 

The  total  present  stand  is  given  in*  the  "  Worterbuch  der  Volkswirt- 
shaft"  (Prof.  D.  L.  Elster,  Jena,  Achte  Lieferung,  1899),  at  a  forest 
rotation  of  eighty  to  one  hundred  years,  as  from  70,000,000,000,  to 
105,000,000,000  cubic  feet.  Professor  Elster  assumes  an  annual 
growth  of  50  cubic  feet  per  acre,  which  corresponds  very  closely 
with  the  figure  given  above,  48.7  cubic  feet.  The  average  rotation 
may  be  taken  as  ninety  years,  but  even  this  is  too  long,  since  there 
are  many  broadleaf  forests  which  do  not  demand  such  long  rota- 
tions. At  an  annual  growth  of  50  cubic  feet  and  a  rotation  of 
ninety  years,  the  forests  will  have  a  stand  of  about  79,000,000,000 
cubic  feeta.  At  an  average  price  even  as  low  as  7  cents  per  cubic 
foot  the  German  forests  represent  a  capital  of  $5,530,000,000,  not 
counting  the  value  of  the  land. 


ANNUAL   CONSUMPTION. 


In  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  German  Empire  succeeds  in  producing 
the  largest  amount  of  wood  per  acre,  it  is  unable  to  supply  its  own 
needs  for  saw  timber.  Since  1863  the  imports  have  exceeded  the 
exports  and  the  difference  between  them  has  been  growing  steadily. 
In  1 904  this  excess  in  saw-log  timber  (logs,  sawed  timber,  and  hewn 
timber)  amounted  to  4,726,000  tons,  or  357,690,300  cubic  feet  (1 
ton  being  equal  to  about  75  cubic  feet  of  round  timber).  This, 
together  with  the  1,706,223,000  cubic  feet  cut  in  Germany  itself, 
gives  a  total  home  consumption  of  2,063,913,300  cubic  feet  of  wood 
of  all  kinds,  or  36.6  cubic  feet  per  capita.  The  consumption  of  saw- 
log  timber  alone  is  1,064,322,000  cubic  feet,  or  18.8  cubic  feet  per 
inhabitant.  The  consumption  of  fuel  alone  is  999,800  cubic  feet,  or 
17.8  cubic  feet  per  capita. 


a  Stand  =  annual  increment  X  area  X 


rotation 


44 


THE  FOREST  RESOURCES  OF  THE  WORLD. 


WOOD   PRICES. 

Tables  19  and  20  give  the  wood  prices  in  the  state  forests  in  the 
different  States.  Table  20  gives  the  average  prices  of  wood,  irre- 
spective of  the  kind  and  species,  for  a  period  covering  seventy-four 
years — 1830-1903.  The  average  prices  for  wood  of  all  kinds  do  not 
vary  a  great  deal.  For  1902  the  prices  ranged  from  5  cents  per  cubic 
foot  in  Prussia  to  10  cents  in  Saxony,  the  prevailing  price  being  about 
7  cents.  Table  19  gives  the  average  sale  prices  in  the  state  forests 
of  Prussia  and  Wurttemberg  for  saw-log  timber  and  firewood  of  differ- 
ent species.  The  highest  saw-log  prices  were  secured  for  oak  timber, 
and  the  highest  firewood  prices  were  secured  for  oak  and  beech  wood. 

TABLE  19. — Prices  of  wood  of  different  species  and  kinds  in  Prussia  and  Wurttemberg. 


Year. 

Prussia. 

Wurttemberg. 

Saw-log  timber. 

Firewood. 

Saw-log 
timber. 

Billets  and 
fagots. 

Oak. 

Beech. 

Spruce 

Pine. 

Beech. 

Spruce. 

Pine. 

Oak. 

Coni- 
fers. 

Beech. 

Coni- 
fers. 

Price  per  cubic  foot. 

Price  per  cord. 

Price  per 
cubic  foot. 

Price  per 
cord. 

1855-59 

$0.131 
.172 
.161 
.177 
.158 
.188 
.225 
.209 
.200 
.203 
.198 
.195 

$0.  079 
.106 
.090 
.083 
.079 
.078 
.102 
.121 
.128 
.106 
.098 
102 

$4.32 
5.67 
6.03 
6.75 
6.84 
5.76 
7.47 
7.56 
8.82 
9.63 
8.01 

$2.52 
3.60 
3.51 
3.15 
3.15 
3.15 
4.14 
4.86 
5.49 
5.13 
3.96 

1860-64 

1865-69.. 

1870 

1871  

1872 

1873  

1874 

1875  

1876 

1877  

1878 

1879  

.171 

.085 

1880 

.179 

.088 

1881  

.179 
.176 
.173 
.181 
.180 
.179 
.169 
.198 
.198 
.223 
.230 
.249 
.249 
.251 
.237 
.239 
.245 
.253 
.269 
.255 
.254 

.089 
.088 
.092 
.090 
.093 
.092 
.086 
.097 
.104 
.109 
.097 
.102 
.105 
.113 
.116 
.119 
.128 
.135 
.143 
.139 
.133 

5.49 
5.31 
5.40 
5.58 
5.58 
5.85 
5.40 
5.49 
5.67 
5.67 
6.03 
6.57 
6.66 
6.21 
6.75 
6.48 
6.12 
6.12 
6.30 
7.02 
8.28 

3.24 
3.15 
3.60 
3.87 
3.78 
3.78 
3.06 
3.24 
3.60 
4.05 
4.32 
4.77 
4.86 
4.59 
4.95 
5.04 
5.04 
5.04 
5.04 
5.49 
6.12 

1882 

1883 

10.137 
.135 
.132 
.126 
.125 
.130 
.142 
.143 
.144 
.141 
.132 
.128 
.134 
.134 
.144 
.146 
.148 
.154 
.134 
.139 

$0.088 
.085 
.081 
.078 
.078 
.083 
.079 
.083 
.077 
.080 
.080 
.078 
.078 
.082 
.088 
.091 
.087 
.088 
.088 
.084 

$0.080 
.078 
.075 
.084 
.084 
.093 
.099 
.099 
.099 
.088 
.085 
.081 
.090 
.097 
.107 
.109 
.113 
.113 
.097 
.096 

$0.064 
.065 
.064 
.065 
.064 
.067 
.071 
.074 
.069 
.071 
.069 
.061 
.067 
.071 
.076 
.083 
.083 
.098 
.086 
.078 

$4.05 
.32 
.32 
.23 
.14 
.05 
.14 
.23 
.50 
.50 
.32 
.14 
.41 
.50 
.59 
.50 
.59 
5.04 
5.31 
4.68 

$2.61 
2.97 
2.79 
2.79 
2.70 
2.61 
2.43 
2.61 
2.88 
2.70 
2.52 
2.34 
2.61 
2.70 
2.79 
2.79 
2.88 
3.06 
3.24 
2.97 

$2.88 
3.06 
3.33 
3.15 
2.79 
2.88 
.3.06 
3.24 
3.51 
3.24 
2.97 
2.70 
2.70 
2.79 
3.15 
3.60 
4.05 
4.50 
4.14 
3.33 

1884  .. 

1885 

1886  

1887 

1888  

1889 

1890  

1891 

1892 

1893  

1894 

1895  

1896 

1897... 

1S!*S 

1890 

1900  

1901 

1902 

The  figures  for  value  per  cord  are  about  4  per  cent  too  high  because 
the  reducing  factor  0.9  was  used  instead  of  0.864.  The  figures  for 
values  per  cubic  foot  are  4  per  cent  too  high  because  the  factor  0.007 
was  used  instead  of  0.006  +  . 


THE  FOREST  RESOURCES  OF   THE  WORLD. 


45 


TABLE  20. — Average  prices  per  cubic  foot  of  wood,  irrespective  of  kind  or  species,  in  the 
state  forests  of  the  different  states  of  the  German  Empire. 


Year. 

Prus- 
.sia. 

Bava- 
ria. 

Sax- 
ony. 

Baden. 

Alsace- 
Lor- 
raine. 

Year. 

Prus- 
sia. 

Bava- 
ria. 

Sax- 
ony. 

Baden. 

Alsace- 
Lor- 
raine. 

1830 

$0  02 

$0.04 

1867.  .  . 

$0.04 

$0.03$ 

$0.07 

$0.06 

1831 

02 

04 

1868 

041 

.071 

.06 

1832 

02 

.041 

1869  

.04 

031 

.06 

.06 

1833 

02 

04$ 

1870.     . 

.04 

.04 

.051 

1834 

.02 

.04 

1871  

.04 

.04 

.07$ 

061 

1830-34 

02 

.041 

1866-71.. 

.04 

.04 

.07 

.06 

1835 

04 

1872. 

.04 

.04 

.091 

.07$ 

$0  06$ 

1836 

02! 

.04* 

1873  

.04* 

.05 

.11$ 

.08 

.081 

1837 

02$ 

.04$ 

1874.     . 

.05 

.051 

.11 

.081 

.08 

1838  
1839 

.02$ 
02$ 

.05 
.05 





1875  
1872-75.  . 

.05 

.041 

.05$ 
:05 

•i!J 

.09 
.081 

.08 
.08 

1835-39... 
1840 

.02$ 
02$ 

.04i 
.051 





1876  
1877  

.04 
.04 

.06 
.05 

.08$ 

.08$ 
.07 

.08 
.06 

1841 

03 

05$ 

1878.     . 

.04 

.05 

081 

.07 

1842  
1843 

.03 
.03 



.05$ 
.05$ 



1879  
1876-79.  . 

.04 
.04 

.05 
.05$ 

.08 

.08$ 

!07$ 

1844 

.03 

.04 

1880  

.04 

.05 

.081 

1840-44 

03 

.051 

1881  

.04 

.05 

.08$ 

.06 

.06 

1845 

03 

051 

1882 

.04 

.05 

.06 

.06 

1846  
1847 

.03 
03 



.06 
05$ 



1883  
1884.     . 

.04 
.04 

.05 
.05 

.09$ 
.09$ 

.06 
.06 

1848 

.03 

.05$ 

$0.03 

1885  

.04 

.05 

.09$ 

061 

.05$ 

1849 

.02* 

.051 

.03 

1886  

.04 

.05 

.09$ 

.06 

.05$ 

1845-49 

.03 

.05i 

1880-86.. 

.04 

.05 

.09 

.06$ 

.06 

1850 

03 

$0.02 

.051 

.03 

1887  

.04 

.05 

.09 

.05$ 

.05 

1851 

03 

02 

06 

.02 

1888. 

.04 

.05 

.091 

.06 

.05$ 

1852 

03 

021 

06 

02 

1889 

041 

.05 

.10 

.061 

.06 

1853 

03 

02 

.06 

.02 

1890.     . 

.041 

.10 

.06$ 

.06 

1854 

03 

02$ 

06 

04 

1891 

.05 

051 

.10 

.07 

.07 

1855.  .  . 
1850  55 

.03 
03 

.021 
02J 

.06 
06 

.04 
031 

1892  
1893 

.04$ 
.04| 

!05 

.09 
.09 

.07 

.07 

.06$ 
.06 

1856 

03 

.03 

.06 

.04 

1894  

.04$ 

.051 

.09 

.07 

.06 

1857 

03 

03 

06 

.05 

1888-94 

.04$ 

.05 

.07 

.06 

1858 

.03 

.03 

.07 

.051 

1895  

.04$ 

.09$ 

.07 

.07 

1859 

03 

03 

07 

.051 

1896..   . 

.04$ 

101 

.07 

.07 

1860 

03 

03 

07 

06 

1897 

.05 

.11 

.07 

.07$ 

1861 

03$ 

031 

071 

061 

1895-97 

041 

.07 

.07 

1862 

03$ 

031 

071 

.06 

1898 

oil 

.06 

.10$ 

.08 

.07$ 

1856-62 

.03 

.03 

.07 

.051 

1899  

.06 

.06$ 

.11 

.08 

.08 

1863 

031 

04 

08 

.06 

1900..   . 

.061 

.07 

.11$ 

.08 

1864... 
1865 

.04 
04 

.04 
05 

.08 
.09 

.07 

.071 

1901  
1902  

.06 
.05 

.07 
.07 

.11 

.10 

!07$ 

.08 
.07 

1863-65 
1866 

.04 

.04 

.04 
.04 

.08$ 
.08| 

.07 
.06$ 



1903  

.06 

.11 

.07 

These  are  average  prices  obtained  in  the  state  forests,  including 
the  cost  of  cutting  and  working  up  the  timber  and  delivering  it  along 
the  road.  They  refer  in  Prussia  and  Bavaria  to  all  kinds  of  wood, 
including  stump  wood,  in  Baden  to  all  wood  except  stump  wood, 
and  in  Saxony  only  to  wood  having  a  diameter  of  2f  inches  at  the 
small  end. 

FRANCE. 

FOREST  AREA. 

The  forests  of  France  have  increased  to  some  extent  since  1840,  as 
may  be  seen  from  the  following  table: 

Increase  in  forest  areas,  1840-1903. 


Land 

Forest 

area 

area. 

under 

forest. 

Acres. 

Per  cent. 

1840                                                                                                  

20,848,274 

15.9 

1862                                                                    

23,026,445 

17.2 

23,367,558 

17.9 

1903                                                                                       .           

24,021,587 

18.2 

46 


THE  FOREST  RESOURCES   OF   THE   WORLD. 


The  forest  area  of  France  is  considerably  smaller  than  that  of 
Germany  or  Austria-Hungary.  In  1901  the  per  capita  forest  area 
was  0.61  acre.  The  total  area  was  distributed  among  different 
owners  as  follows:  State  forests,  2,889,470  acres,  or  12  per  cent; 
communal  forests,  5,589,392  acres,  or  23.3  per  cent;  and  private 
forests,  15,542,725  acres,  or  64.7  per  cent. 

Of  state  forests,  a  large  part  is  poorly  or  not  at  all  forested;  the 
unproductive  area  is  estimated  as  662,000  acres,  or  nearly  23  per  cent 
of  the  total  area,  while  in  the  communal  forests  it  amounts  to 
275,000  acres.  Most  of  the  state  forests  are  in  the  departments  of 
Ariege  (203,750  acres),  in  the  Pyrenees,  Basses- Alpes  (1 16,328  acres), 
Vosges  (141,180  acres),  Cote  d'Or  (100,743  acres),  farther  Loiret 
(96,582  acres),  and  Corsica  (111,890  acres). 

The  most  of  the  communal  and  institution  forests  are  in  the  east- 
ern departments  of  Vosges  (296,638  acres),  Haute-Saone  (287,757 
acres),  Cote  d'Or  (251,815  acres),  Savoie  (188,098  acres),  Doubs 
(249,600  acres),  Hautes-Alpes  (197,948  acres),  Jura  (215,333  acres,) 
Meuse  (242,115  acres),  in  tne  more  distant  parts  of  the  three  depart- 
ments of  the  Pyrenees  (322,360  acres),  and  in  Corsica  (203,405 
acres). 

The  smallest  amount  of  private  forest  is  found  in  the  department 
of  Vosges. 


COMPOSITION. 


Of  the  total  area,  20  per  cent  is  stocked  with  conifirs  and  80  per 
cent  with  hard  woods  (35  per  cent  of  this  is  the  ordinary  oak  and 
4  per  cent  is  the  stone  oak,  Quercus  ilex).  In  the  state  forests,  con- 
ifers occupy  23.4  per  cent  of  the  total  area  (fir  7  per  cent,  Scotch 
pine  6.6  per  cent,  maritime  pine  4  per  cent,  spruce  2.7  per  cent, 
larch  1.8  per  cent,  other  conifers  1.3  per  cent);  broadleaf  forests 
76.6  per  cent  (oak  27.4  per  cent,  beech  18.3  per  cent,  hornbeam 
10.9  per  cent,  evergreen  oak,  Q.  ilex,  4  per  cent,  other  hard  woods 
16  per  cent).  In  private  forests  conifers  form  19  per  cent,  hard 
woods  81  per  cent. 

According  to  the  system  of  management  practiced,  the  forests  show 
the  following  proportions  in  state,  private,  and  communal  forests: 

Distribution  of  forests  by  management. 


State 
forest. 

Forests 
under 
state 
control. 

Private 
forest. 

Total 
forest 
area. 

Coppice                                                

Per  cent. 
2.5 

Per  cent. 
14.7 

Per  cent. 
49.0 

Per  cent. 
38.0 

Composite  forest 

29.2 

53.2 

31.0 

35.0 

16.8 

1.0 

2.0 

High  forest         .                             

51.5 

31.1 

20.0 

25.0 

ANNUAL   CUT. 


The  total  annual  cut  in  France  amounts  to  910,740,000  cubic  feet, 
of  which  225,920,000  cubic  feet  are  timber,  or  a  total  cut  of  39.39 
cubic  feet  per  acre.  The  cut  varies  in  the  different  forests,  as  can  be 
seen  from  the  following  figures : 


THE   FOREST  RESOURCES   OF   THE   WORLD. 

Annual  cut  per  acre  by  ownership. 


47 


Total  cut 
per  acre  of 
forest  area. 

Timber. 

State  forest  

Cuhic  feet. 
43  07 

Per  cent. 
35 

Forests  under  state  control  

36  57 

24 

Private  forests  

40  95 

25 

Average..  . 

39  39 

25 

ANNUAL   GROWTH. 


While  France  has  still  much  work  to  do  before  she  can  bring  the 
exploitation  of  her  forests  to  the  point  the  German  forests  have 
reached,  it  can  hardly  be  doubted  that  the  present  cut  does  not 
exceed  the  annual  growth.  The  present  yield  of  910,740,000  cubic 
feet  per  year  may,  therefore,  be  considered  equivalent  to  the  total 
annual  growth.  The  chief  task  which  France  has  in  the  future  is 
to  produce  a  larger  amount  of  saw-log  timber  in  proportion  to  cord 
wood,  which  has  a  small  value.  The  910,740,000  cubic  feet  of  home 
product  are  not  sufficient  to  supply  all  her  needs,  and  it  is  necessary 
to  import  wood  for  home  consumption.  Not  counting  firewood  and 
charcoal,  France  has  at  present  on  an  average  every  year  a  surplus 
of  imports  over  exports  of  44,000,000  cubic  leet  in  round  numbers. 
On  an  average,  between  1894  and  1898,  the  following  amounts  of  the 
different  kinds  of  wood  were  exported  and  imported : 

Exports  and  imports  of  wood,  in  cubic  feet. 


In  form  of  — 

Exports. 

Imports. 

Surplus  of 
imports, 
over 
exports. 

Sawed  lumber. 

3  277  000 

74  509  000 

Logs  and  other  round  timber  

43,747,000 

6,721,000 

Staves  

212,000 

6  Oil  000 

Other  wood,  except  firewood  and  charcoal  

3,101,000 

8,650,000 

Total  of  all  kinds  of  wood 

50  337  000 

95  891  000 

45  554  000 

As  regards  firewood  and  charcoal,  there  were  exported  5,129,000 
cubic  feet  and  imported  3,443,000  cubic  feet;  in  other  words,  the 
exports  exceeded  the  imports  by  1,700,000  cubic  feet,  which  reduces 
the  surplus  of  imports  over  exports  of  all  kinds  of  wood  to  43,900,000 
cubic  feet. 

The  total  home  consumption,  therefore,  amounts  to  910,740,000 
plus  43,900,000  cubic  feet,  or  a  total  of  954,640,000  cubic  feet.  The 

Eer  capita  consumption  is  24.6  cubic  feet,  of  which  17.7  cubic  feet  are 
rewood  and  6.9  cubic  feet  are  timber. 


48 


THE  FOREST  RESOURCES  OF  THE  WORLD. 


WOOD   PRICES. 


The  following  table  gives  prices  for  saw-log  timber  of  different 
species  at  point  of  shipment  along  the  road : 

Wood  prices  per  cubic  foot,  according  to  size  of  log,  at  points  of  shipping  for  Paris  market 

at  city  gates. 


SAW  LOGS. 


Species. 

Price. 

Oak  heartwood 

$0.  28  to  SO  42 

Oak,  sapwood                                                                     

.  42  to    1.  10 

Beech 

.  25  to      .  34 

Ash.   ...                                      

.17  to     .34 

Red  elm                                                                                                                            

.  20  to     .  34 

White  elm 

.22  to     .29 

Scotch  pine                                                              

.  13  to     .18 

Spruce  and  fir                                                                                              ... 

.  18  to     .30 

RAILWAY  TIES  (1905). 


Contents  in 
cubic  feet. 

Price  per 
tie. 

4.0 

$1.08 

5.4 

1.45 

5.7 

1.54 

7.2 

1.94 

7.6 

2.04 

BELGIUM. 


FOREST   AREA. 

The  present  forest  area  of  Belgium  shows  an  increase  over  that 
of  1846,  as  may  be  seen  from  the  following: 

1846,  1,200,268.8  acres;  1866,  1,074,057.3  acres;  1880,  1,209,556.8 
acres;  and  1895,  1,303,735.5  acres. 

The  forest  area  forms  17.7  per  cent  of  the  total  land  area,  or  0.2 
acre  per  inhabitant.  The  most  wooded  provinces  are  Luxemburg, 
41  per  cent,  and  Namur,  31  per  cent,  which  together  comprise  666,937 
acres.  Of  the  total  forest  area,  62,600  acres,  or  4.8  per  cent,  are  state 
forests;  395,452  acres,  or  30.3  per  cent,  are  communal  forests;  17,370 
acres.,  or  1.3  per  cent,  belong  to  public  institutions;  and  828,314  acres, 
or  63.6  per  cent,  are  private  forests. 

COMPOSITION. 

Of  the  total  forest  area,  71.1  per  cent  are  hard  woods  and  28.9  per 
cent  are  conifers  (pine  predominating).  Of  the  hard  woods,  56  per 
cent  was  managed  as  composite  forest,  31  per  cent  as  sprout  forest, 
and  13  per  cent  as  high  forest.  Especially  common  is  oak  coppice 
wood,  managed  for  bark,  the  production  01  which  amounts  to  about 
29,500  tons. 

ANNUAL  CUT. 

The  annual  cut  is  estimated  as  75,789,000  cubic  feet,  or  58.2  cubic 
feet  per  acre,  of  which  saw-log  timber  forms  40  per  cent,  or  28,734,200 


THE  FOREST  RESOURCES  OF   THE   WORLD.  49 

cubic  feet.  In  addition,  some  7,415,100  cubic  feet  are  obtained 
annually  from  trees  outside  of  the  forest,  making  the  total  cut 
83,204,000  cubic  feet. 


ANNUAL  GROWTH. 


During  recent  years  Belgium  has  manifested  a  strong  tendency 
not  only  to  husband  her  forests  most  rationally,  but  also  to  increase 
the  forest  area.  The  annual  cut  may,  therefore,  be  taken  as  the 
annual  growth.  There  are  no  recent  figures  regarding  the  produc- 
tivity. 


CONSUMPTION. 


Home  production  is  unable  to  satisfy  the  needs  of  the  country. 
The  consumption  of  mine  timber  alone  in  1894  was  21,892,210  cubic 
feet  and  in  1903  it  was  35,310,000  cubic  feet.  The  excess  of  imports 
over  exports  tof  building  timber  in  1898  amounted  to  36,400,126  cubic 
feet.  The  total  consumption  then  amounts  to  119,604,126  cubic  feet, 
or  17.7  cubic  feet  per  capita.  Of  this  amount,  72,549,400  cubic  feet, 
or  10.8  cubic  feet  per  capita,  consist  of  saw-log  timber;  while 
47,055,000  cubic  feet,  or  6.9  cubic  feet  per  capita,  are  cord  wood. 


WOOD   PRICES. 


The  wood  prices  are  very  much  the  same  as  in  Germany.  The 
average  price  for  all  kinds,  irrespective  of  species,  is  something  like 
6  cents  per  cubic  foot  in  the  forest.  In  Germany,  as  we  have  seen, 
the  price  of  wood  in  the  forest  ranges  between  5  and  8  cents,  while 
cord  wood  in  Prussia  sells  at  about  3  cents. 

SPAIN   AND    PORTUGAL. 

The  figures  regarding  the  forests  of  Spain  and  Portugal  are  ex- 
tremely conflicting;  thus,  according  to  K.  van  Scherzer,0  the  area  of 
Spanish  forests  in  1885  was  26,098,200  acres,  or  20.8  per  cent  of  the 
total  land  area;  and  for  Portugal,  according  to  the  same  source, 
1,756,000  acres,  or  8  per  cent  of  the  total  land  area.  According  to 
A.  Melard,6  Inspector,  Department  of  Waters  and  Forests,  France, 
the  forest  area  in  Spain  may  be  taken  as  equal  to  16,065,000  acres, 
and  that  of  Portugal  from  1,112,400  to  1,236,600  acres.  Taking 
Melard's  figures,  it  would  seem  that  the  forests  of  Spain  occupy 
13  per  cent  of  the  total  land  area  and  those  of  Portugal  5  per  cent. 
According  to  Scott  Keltie,c  the  forests  of  Portugal  amounted  to  only 
2.9  per  cent  of  the  total  land  area. 

The  Spanish  Peninsula  is  a  plateau  bordered  by  high  mountain 
terraces.  The  rivers  are  unreliable,  having  neither  glaciers  nor  great 
lakes  at  their  sources.  The  rains  are  very  unequally  distributed  over 
the  different  seasons.  Drought  is  often  followed  by  severe  floods, 
and  in  order  to  counteract  their  bad  effects  Spain  and  Portugal 
should  be  well  forested.  Both  countries,  however,  are  lacking  in  this 

a  Das  wirthschaf tliche  Leben  der  Volker. 

6  Insuffisance  de  la  production  de  bois  d'oeuvre. 

c  The  Statesman's  Yearbook  for  1901. 

55826°— Bull.  83—10 4 


50  THE  FOREST  RESOURCES   OF   THE  WORLD. 

respect.  As  to  the  forest  area  per  inhabitant,  taking  Melard's  fig- 
ures for  the  areas,  Spain,  with  a  population  of  18,090,000,  has  a  forest 
area  per  capita  of  0.88  acre,  and  Portugal,  with  a  population  of 
5,423,000,  has  only  0.23  acre.  These  figures  can  not,  however,  be  con- 
sidered reliable,  and  if  Spain  actually  has  nearly  0.9  acre  for  every 
inhabitant  the  forest  must  be  uncommonly  poor,  because  Spain  has 
not  enough  timber  to  satisfy  rather  low  home  demands  for  wood. 
The  forests  probably  meet  a  great  deal  of  the  local  demand  and 
furnish  large  amounts  of  cork  for  export,  but  on  the  whole  they  are 
not  suficient  to  supply  the  home  consumption.  The  need  for  foreign 
timber  will  still  further  increase  as  soon  as  Spain  enters  on  a  more 
active  exploitation  of  her  mineral  wealth. 

There  are  no  figures  of  any  kind  in  regard  to  the  annual  cut, 
growth,  or  consumption  for  either  country. 


ITALY. 

FOREST   AREA. 


According  to  Loreto  Pasqualucci,0  the  forest  area  of  Italy  now 
comprises  11,034,900  acres,  but  this  figure  is  higher  than  that  given  in 
the  official  Italian  reports.6  The  official  statistics b  of  this  country 
give  the  area  of  forests  as  10,115,404.2  acres,  or  14.28  per  cent  of  the 
total  land  area.  The  forest  area  per  capita  is  0.31  acre. 

The  government  ownership  of  forests  is  of  two  kinds.  One  part  of 
the  state  forests,  375,000  acres  in  extent,  is  under  the  direct  control 
of  the  secretary  of  the  treasury,  and  any  portion  of  it  may  be  sold 
whenever  necessary ;  another  part,  much  smaller  in  area,  comprising 
only  40,000  acres,  is  declared  inalienable,  is  directly  under  the  secre- 
tary of  agriculture,  and  is  administered  by  the  forest  service.  The 
largest  state  forest  (28,245  acres)  is  in  Tuscany,  and  two  other  large 
forests  (one  of  16,137  acres,  the  other  of  14,840  acres)  are  in  Venetia. 


COMPOSITION. 

Of  the  total  forest  area  52  per  cent  is  managed  as  high  forests  and 
48  per  cent  as  composite  ana  sprout  forests.  Of  the  high  forest  30 
per  cent  is  coniferous,  62  per  cent  produces  hard  woods,  and  8  per 
cent  is  mixed  forest.  The  forests  are  thus  shown  to  be  principally 
hard  woods. 

ANNUAL  CUT. 

According  to  official  statistics  the  following  amounts  were  cut  in 
all  the  forests:  Saw-log  timber,  48,525,000  cubic  feet,  or  4.8  cubic 
feet  per  acre;  cord  wood,  222,103,000  cubic  feet,  or  22  cubic  feet  per 
acre;  and  wood  for  charcoal,  106,621,000  cubic  feet,  or  10.5  cubic  feet 
per  acre,  making  a  total  of  377,249,000  cubic  feet,  or  37.3  cubic  feet 
per  acre. 

In  addition,  by-products  were  obtained  amounting  to  1,708  tons; 
this  means  enormous  quantities  of  cord  wood  and  wood  for  charcoal. 

a  Nuevo  annuario  del  commercio  dell*  Italia  (1895),  L.  Pasqualucci, 
&  Annuario  statisco  Italiano,  1898  ed.,  1900. 


THE   FOEEST  RESOURCES   OF   THE   WORLD.  51 

ANNUAL  GROWTH. 

There  are  no  figures  regarding  the  productivity  of  the  forests.  It 
can  not,  however,  be  very  far  from  the  annual  cut. 

CONSUMPTION. 

The  377,249,000  cubic  feet  which  are  cut  at  home  are  not  sufficient 
to  supply  the  needs  of  the  home  industries.  Italy  is  compelled  to 
import,  though  not  to  the  same  extent  as  England,  Germany,  France, 
and  Belgium,  because  its  industries  are  less  developed.  The  average 
excess  of  imports  of  saw-log  timber  over  exports,  for  a  period  of  five 
years  (1895  to  1899),  was  27,023,000  cubic  feet,  and  the  yearly  excess 
of  imports  of  cord  wood  over  exports  for  the  same  period  was  about 
3,031,000  cubic  feet.  The  total  consumption  of  saw-log  timber  may 
therefore  be  taken  as  75,548,000  cubic  feet,  or  2.4  cubic  feet  per  capita. 
The  total  consumption  of  cord  wood  and  wood  for  charcoal  was  330,- 
000,000  cubic  feet,  or  10.5  cubic  feet  per  inhabitant.  The  aggregate 
consumption  per  capita  is  thus  nearly  13  cubic  feet. 

WOOD   PRICES. 

No  figures  are  available  regarding  the  prices  of  wood. 

THE    NETHERLANDS. 
FOREST  AREA. 

In  the  Netherlands  for  the  last  sixty-five  years  there  has  been  a 
constant  increase  in  the  area  of  productive  land  at  the  expense  of  the 
noncultivated  and  waste  land ;  thus,  in  1 833,  fields,  pastures,  meadows, 
and  forests  occupied  63  per  cent  of  the  total  land  area,  and  the  re- 
maining 37  per  cent  was  swamps,  waste  land,  and  roads,  while  in 
1898,  72  per  cent  was  under  crops,  forests,  and  gardens.  In  sixty-five 
years  the  Dutch  have  thus  transformed  9  per  cent  of  waste  and  un- 
productive land  into  profitable  areas.  Forests  have  also  increased 
accordingly;  in  1833  the  forest  area  was  417,728  acres,  or  5.2  per  cent 
of  the  land  area;  in  1881  it  was  552,001  acres,  or  6.8  per  cent  of  the 
land  area;  and  in  1889  it  was  617,567  acres,  or  7.7  per  cent  of  the 
land  area. 

^  The  forest  area  in  sixty-five  years  has  increased  about  50  per  cent. 
Since  the  greater  part  is  in  the  hands  of  private  individuals,  this 
increase  must  be  taken  as  an  indication  that  forestry  is  profitable. 
The  per  capita  forest  area  is  0.1  acre. 


COMPOSITION. 


By  species,  the  forests  are  distributed  as  follows:  Two  hundred 
and  twelve  thousand  five  hundred  acres,  or  37.8  per  cent,  are  conifer- 
ous forests  (pine),  and  350,572  acres,  or  62.2  per  cent,  are  hard  woods 
(chiefly  oak).  The  sprout  forest  is  the  prevailing  form  of  manage- 
ment. The  oak  sprout  forest  comprises  91,892  acres,  or  16  per  cent 
of  the  total  forest  area. 


52  THE  FOREST  RESOURCES   OF   THE   WORLD. 


ANNUAL   CUT   AND    GROWTH. 


Unfortunately  there  are  no  reliable  figures  concerning  the  amount 
of  annual  cut.  K.  von  Scherzera  estimated  the  cut  in  Holland  and 
Belgium  at  37  cubic  feet  per  acre.  Judging  by  the  revenues  obtained 
in  the  Belgian  forests,  the  Dutch  forests  must  yield  a  larger  amount 
of  wood  per  acre,  at  least  46  cubic  feet.  In  that  case  the  total  cut 
would  amount  to  28,591,000  cubic  feet.  This  figure  may  also  be 
accepted  as  the  annual  growth,  since  the  forests  are  managed  for  a 
sustained  yield. 

CONSUMPTION. 

• 

The  annual  yield  is  not  sufficient  to  supply  the  home  consumption. 
Holland  is  a  highly  commercial  nation,  but  its  industries  are  less  de- 
veloped than  those  of  Belgium,  and  hence  its  wood  consumption  is 
smaller.  Holland  uses  enormous  quantities  of  coal  and  turf,  and 
therefore  does  not  use  much  wood  for  fuel,  but  it  needs  large  quanti- 
ties of  timber  for  building  purposes.  The  surplus  average  of  imports 
of  round  timber  over  exports  for  five  years  (1895-1899)  was  about 
24,875,000  cubic  feet,  and  that  of  sawed  timber  for  the  same  period, 
13,757,000  cubic  feet,  or  in  all  38,632,000  cubic  feet.  Adding  to  this 
the  annual  cut  at  home  (28,591,000  cubic  feet),  the  total  consumption 
in  Holland  would  be  about  67,200,000  cubic  feet,  or,  with  a  popula- 
tion of  5,100,000,  13.1  cubic  feet  per  capita.  Even  assuming  that  50 
per  cent  of  the  total  cut  is  cord  wood,  still  the  consumption  of  cord 
wood  would  form  only  2.8  cubic  feet,  while  the  consumption  of  tim- 
ber and  lumber  woula  be  10.3  cubic  feet  per  capita. 


WOOD   PRICES. 


Except  the  general  import  prices  per  cubic  foot  as  they  are  obtain- 
able by  dividing  the  total  value  of  imports  by  their  volume,  no  other 
wood  prices  are  available.  The  general  import  price  for  round  tim- 
ber was  about  14  cents  per  cubic  foot,  and  that  of  sawed  timber 
about  18  cents. 


SWITZERLAND. 

FOREST  AREA. 


The  Swiss  forests  occupy  20.6  of  the  total  land  area  of  10,237,560 
acres,  or  2,140,012  acres,  while  in  1884  the  forest  area  amounted 
to  only  1,940,465  acres.  In  other  words,  the  forest  area  has  increased 
10  per  cent  during  the  last  fifteen  years.  The  Government  recog- 
nizes the  necessity  of  keeping  the  mountain  slopes  covered  with  for- 
ests in  order  to  avoid  landslides,  and  therefore  extends  the  area  under 
forest  by  all  possible  means,  chiefly  by  planting.  Between  1878  and 
1890,  10,000,000  conifers  and  1 .000,000  broadleaf  trees  were  planted  on 
an  average  every  year,  or  a  total  area  of  4,153  acres,  at  a  cost  of 
$22.25  per  acre.  Since  1890  the  planting  has  been  done  every  year 
regularly  on  an  increased  scale.  In  1899  about  14,000,000  pine  seed- 
lings, 2,000,000  spruce,  1,200,000  larch,  and  1,400,000  fir  and  other 
trees  were  planted.  The  forest  area  per  capita  is  0.67  acre. 

Of  the  total  forest  area,  the  States  own  97,630  acres,  or  4.6  per  cent; 

o  Das  wirthschaftliche  Leben  der  Volker. 


THE  FOKEST  RESOURCES  OF  THE  WORLD. 


53 


communes  and  corporations,  1,431,280  acres,  or  66.9  per  cent;  and  pri- 
vate individuals,  611,102  acres,  or  28.5  per  cent.  The  most  heavily 
wooded  Cantons  are  Schaffhausen,  Solothurn,  Basel-Land,  and 
Aargau ;  the  least  thickly  wooded  are  Geneve  and  tlri.  The  distribu- 
tion of  forests  according  to  ownership  in  the  different  Cantons  is 
given  in  Table  21. 

TABLE  21. — Distribution  of  forest  in  different  cantons  of  Switzerland. 


Cantons. 

Forest  area. 

Land  area 
under  for- 
est. 

State  for- 
ests. 

Communal 
and  corpo- 
ration for- 
ests. 

Private 
forests. 

Zurich 

Acres. 
117  150  0 

Per  cent. 
27  2 

Per  cent. 
4  8 

Per  cent. 
41  4 

Per  cent. 

Bern  

380  295.0 

22  1 

8  5 

52  0 

39  5 

Lucern  

77  355  0 

20  6 

1  5 

19  3 

7Q  2 

Uri 

27  462  5 

10  2 

7 

00     0 

Sehwiz  

42  040  0 

18  5 

85  1 

Mq 

Oberalden 

30  487  5 

25  7 

:  * 

92  5 

Unalder  

17  312  5 

23  8 

1  8 

76  5 

21  7 

Glarus 

26  567  5 

15  4 

92  6 

Zug  

12  922.5 

21  6 

73  5 

26  5 

Freiburg  .  . 

76  875  0 

18  4 

10  5 

48  9 

4rt  a 

Solothurn 

73  010  0 

36  9 

3  2 

76  3 

on  e 

Basel-Stadt  

987  5 

11  0 

44  3 

cc  7 

Basel-Land 

36  237  5 

34  2 

76  9 

00     -I 

Schaffhausen  

29  055  0 

39  5 

16  3 

70  0 

1Q    7 

Appenzell: 
Outer  Rodes  

14,617.5 

22  4 

1  5 

22  5 

76  0 

Inner  Rodes. 

8  310  0 

20  9 

1  2 

34  8 

64  0 

St.  Gallen 

101  387  5 

20  1 

2  4 

59  8 

"YJ  8 

Graubunden  

316  897  5 

17  6 

2 

89  4 

10  4 

Aargau 

110  542  5 

31  5 

6  9 

75  9 

17  2 

Thurgau  

44  920  0 

17  5 

7  9 

30  5 

61  6 

Tessin 

151  427  5 

21  5 

82  3 

17  7 

Waadt  .  .  . 

187,642.5 

23  1 

12  4 

59  0 

28  6 

Wallis 

192  652  5 

14  7 

94  3 

5  7 

Neuenburg 

57  420  0 

28  4 

8  4 

48  3 

43  3 

Geneve.. 

6  437  5 

9  3 

7  6 

•92  4 

Average  percentage.  .  . 

20  6 

4  6 

66  9 

28  5 

ANNUAL   CUT. 


Unfortunately,  the  latest  statistics  do  not  contain  any  figures  for 
the  forest  cut,  but  the  earlier  statistics  do  contain  such,  and  since 
there  could  not  be  any  great  change  in  the  amount  of  cutting,  these 
figures  may  serve  our  purpose. 

In  the  early  eighties  the  cutting  in  state  forests,  according  to  Pro- 
fessor Landolt,a  Conservator  of  Forests,  Zurich,  amounted  to  5,509,400 
cubic  feet,  or  68  cubic  feet  per  acre;  in  communal  and  corporation 
forests,  65,653,560  cubic  feet,  or  51  cubic  feet  per  acre;  and  in  private 
forests,  27,335,400  cubic  feet,  or  48  cubic  feet  per  acre,  making  a  total 
of  98,498,000  cubic  feet,  or  an  average  of  51  cubic  feet  per  acre. 

Of  the  total  cut,  40  per  cent  formed  saw-log  timber  for  building 
purposes. 


ANNUAL    GROWTH. 


The  cut  of  51  cubic  feet  per  acre,  or  a  total  of  98,498,000  cubic  feet, 
may  be  taken  as  representing  the  annual  growth  of  all  the  Swiss 
forests,  since  Switzerland  has  for  a  long  time  been  practicing  forestry, 
and  became  converted  to  the  principle  of  cutting  only  the  annual 
increment,  leaving  the  forest  capital  which  produces  that  increment. 


Furrer.     Volkswirtschafts  Lexikon  der  Schweiz. 


54  THE  FOREST  RESOURCES  OF  THE  WORLD. 


CONSUMPTION. 


The  comparatively  large  annual  cut  ought  to  be  sufficient,  appar- 
ently, for  a  population  of  about  3,000,000  inhabitants  (in  1900  there 
were  3,117,000) ;  but,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  Switzerland  is  compelled  to 
import  timber  from  abroad,  and  the  figures  for  imports  and  exports 
for  the  fifteen  years  following  1885  show  that  the  imports  are  con- 
stantly growing,  while  the  exports  are  constantly  decreasing.  Timber 
is  obtained  chiefly  from  Germany,  Austria,  and  France.  By  aid  of 
the  figures  for  exports  and  imports  and  the  amount  cut  in  the  forests, 
the  wood  consumption,  in  cubic  feet,  for  the  period  from  1895  to  1899 
may  be  determined  as  follows: 


Saw-log 
timber. 

Firewood. 

Annual  cut                                           

40,000,000 

60,000,000 

Excess  of  imports  over  exports 

8,500,000 

8,  500,  000 

Total                                                 -             

48,  500,  000 

68,500,000 

The  total  consumption  is  117,000,000  cubic  feet,  or  38  cubic  feet 
per  inhabitant.  Of  this,  15.7  cubic  feet  are  in  the  form  of  saw-log 
timber  and  timber  for  building  purposes  and  22.3  cubic  feet  in  the 
form  of  firewood. 


WOOD   PRICES. 


The  stumpage  prices  of  saw-log  timber  and  construction  timber 
at  the  place  of  cutting,  1895-1899,  was  8.4  cents  per  cubic  foot,  and 
for  firewood  nearly  5  cents.  The  average  price  for  both  timber  and 
firewood  was  6.3  cents  per  cubic  foot.  These  prices  are  practically 
the  same  as  those  in  Prussia. 


DENMARK. 

FOREST   AREA. 


The  forest  area  of  Denmark  in  1899  comprised  603,575  acres,  or 
6.3  per  cent  of  the  total  land  area,  and  a  per  capita  of  0.25  acre. 
The  islands  Seeland,  Bornholm,  Laaland,  Falster,  and  Fyen  occupy- 
ing 9.3  per  cent  of  the  total  area  of  Denmark,  contain  300,137.5 
acres  of  forest  land,  or  49.7  per  cent  of  the  total  forest  area.  The 
other  half  of  the  Danish  forests,  303,437.5  acres,  or  50.3  per  cent, 
are  found  on  the  mainland  (Jutland). 

The  state  forests  comprise  23.8  per  cent,  or  143,702.5  acres;  of  this 
area,  45.8  per  cent  is  found  on  the  Danish  islands  and  54.2  per  cent 
on  Jutland. 


COMPOSITION. 


Of  the  total  forest  area,  266,515  acres,  or  44.2  per  cent,  are  beech 
forests;  90,623  acres,  or  15  per  cent,  are  other  hard  woods;  228,625 
acres,  or  37.9  per  cent,  are  coniferous  forest;  and  17,812  acres,  or  2.9 
per  cent,  are  scrub  growth. 


THE  FOREST  RESOURCES  OF   THE  WORLD.  55 

Of  the  total  area  of  state  forests,  42,197  acres,  or  29.3  per  cent,  are 
hardwood  forests  (chiefly  beech);  49,917  acres,  or  34.8  per  cent,  are 
coniferous  forests;  41,822  acres  are  on  barren  land;  and  9,767  acres, 
or  6.8  per  cent,  are  not  on  true  forest  soil.  The  area  of  productive 
state  forests  is  therefore  only  92,114  acres.  The  large  proportion  of 
unproductive  land  in  the  state  forests  is  due  to  the  vast  areas  of 
heathland  found  on  Jutland  and  the  island  of  Bornholm.  It  is  inter- 
esting that  the  coniferous  forests  of  Denmark  are  all  planted,  the 
first  conifers  having  been  introduced  at  the  end  of  the  eighteenth 
century.  Among  these  was  also  the  silver  fir  (Abies  pectinata),  which 
is  now  growing  on  the  island  of  Bornholm. 

ANNUAL  CUT,  GROWTH,  AND  CONSUMPTION. 

Unfortunately,  there  are  no  figures  regarding  the  cut  and  growth 
or  any  data  concerning  wood  consumption.  Denmark  fully  appre- 
ciates the  value  of  forests  and  treats  most  carefully  those  few  which 
she  possesses,  and  tries  to  increase  the  area  as  far  as  possible  by 
planting  the  waste  lands.  Unfortunately,  the  area  of  forests  is  very 
small  and  the  production  far  too  little  for  a  population  of  2,300,000 
inhabitants.  The  total  productive  forest  area  is  probably  not  over 
575,000  acres.  Assuming  that  the  forests  of  Denmark  are  producing 
annually  as  much  as  the  forests  of  Holland — that  is,  45  cubic  feet 
per  acre — the  annual  production  of  wood  in  Denmark  would  be 
25,875,000  cubic  feet.  In  addition  to  this,  Denmark  imports  about 
22,951,500  cubic  feet  of  structural  timber,  or  a  total  of  48,826,500 
cubic  feet.  With  a  population  of  2,465,000  the  wood  consumption 
is  19.8  cubic  feet  per  capita. 


BULGARIA. 

FOREST  AREA. 


The  agricultural  statistics  for  1897  credit  Bulgaria  with  7,169,675 
acres  of  forests,  while  the  forest  statistics  give  7,602,815  acres,  or  30 
per  cent  of  the  total  land  area.  Of  this,  3,505,548  acres  lie  within 
1,200  feet  of  sea  level,  2,483,942  acres  lie  between  1,200  and  3,000 
feet  in  elevation,  and  1,613,325  acres  at  an  altitude  above  3,000  feet. 
Only  375,000  acres  of  the  state  forests  are  accurately  measured. 

The  Balkan  Mountains  are  the  most  heavily  wooded,  especially  the 
eastern  half.  Northern  Bulgaria,  especially  the  Danube  region,  is 
most  sparsely  wooded.  In  Dobrucha,  along  the  Black  Sea,  dried 
manure  is  used  for  fuel.  The  forest  area  per  capita  amounts  to  2.4 
acres,  varying  from  0.2  to  10.4  acres  per  capita  in  the  different  prov- 
inces. The  State  owns  29.6  per  cent,  communes  51.4  per  cent,  and 
private  individuals  19  per  cent  of  the  total  forest  area.  Until  1869 
the  cutting  of  timber  and  grazing  in  the  state  forests  were  entirely 
free;  since  that  year  they  have  been  brought  under  regulation,  though 
not  without  a  great  deal  of  friction  between  the  Government  and 
communities. 


56  THE  FOREST  RESOURCES   OF   THE  WORLD. 


COMPOSITION. 


Hard  woods — oak,  beech,  and,  in  the  south,  walnut — predominate. 
Conifers  grow  only  in  the  mountains. 

Bulgaria  may  be  truly  called  a  rural  country,  since  five-sevenths  of 
the  total  population  live  in  villages  and  are  engaged  in  agriculture. 
There  is  no  rational  forest  management,  and  practically  nothing  is 
known  of  the  condition  of  the  forests. 

SERVIA. 

Data  regarding  Servian  forests  are  extremely  conflicting.  Thus 
Melard  °  gives  the  extent  of  the  forests  of  Servia  at  5,225,000  acres, 
or  42  per  cent  of  the  total  land  area.  Kolm  b  gives  the  forest  area 
as  4,500,000  acres,  Keltiec  as  1,202,500  acres,  and  Endres  as  3,864,774 
acres,  or  32  per  cent  of  the  land  area.  Since  the  figures  given  by 
Max  Endres, d  of  the  University  of  Munich,  are  more  recent,  his  esti- 
mate is  undoubtedly  the  most  reliable.  The  forest  area  per  capita 
may  be  taken,  then,  as  1.55  acres.  According  to  ownership  the  for- 
ests are  divided  as  follows:  State  forests,  1,417,230  acres,  or  36.6  per 
cent  of  the  land  area;  communal  forests,  1,645,650  acres,  or  42.6  per 
cent;  church  and  monastery  forests,  42,707  acres,  or  1.1  per  cent; 
and  private  forests,  759,187  acres,  or  19.7  per  cent,  making  a  total  of 
3,864,774  acres,  according  to  Endres. 

The  boundaries  of  the  different  forest  owners  are,  however,  very 
uncertain  and  still  disputed.  The  eastern  part  of  Servia  is  very 
little  wooded.  Hardwoods  (beech  and  oak)  occur  chiefly  in  the  east 
and  north,  while  conifers  (fir,  spruce,  pines)  are  found  in  the  west  and 
south.  On  the  whole,  the  broadleaf  forests  predominate.  Every  citi- 
zen has  the  right  to  cut  timber  for  his  own  needs  in  the  state  forests; 
it  must,  however,  be  paid  for  if  cut  for  sale.  Under  such  a  system 
of  cutting  there  can  hardly  be  any  regular  forest  management.  From 
the  fact  that  in  1903  Servia  had  an  excess  of  imports  over  exports 
amounting  to  5,846,000  cubic  feet  it  must  be  inferred  either  that  the 
forests  are  not  yet  opened  up  or  that  they  are  already  ruined  by 
abuse,  because  with  a  forest  area  of  1.55  acres  per  capita  and  unde- 
veloped industries,  the  forests  should  be  fully  able  to  supply  the  needs 
of  home  consumption. 

No  figures  are  available  regarding  the  cut,  yield,  or  consumption 
of  wood. 

GREECE. 


FOREST  AREA. 


The  forests  of  Greece  occupy  2,023,380  acres,  which  is  less  than  13 
per  cent  of  the  total  land  area.  The  forest  area  per  inhabitant  is 
0.83  acre.  Greece  was  once  thickly  wooded,  and  in  ancient  times 
had,  for  that  period,  a  large  merchant  marine  and  navy.  All  the 
ships  were  built  of  wood  from  the  neighboring  mountains.  Because 
of  her  large  merchant  marine,  supplied  from  her  forests,  and  the  great 
number  of  warships  built  from  the  timber  grown  in  her  own  forests, 

a  Insuffisance  de  la  production  des  bois  d'oeuvre. 

6  Serbien;  W.  Kolm  (Semlin,  1894). 

cThe  Statesman's  Yearbook;  Scott  Keltic  (London,  1901). 

dHandbuchderForstpolitik;  Endres  (Berlin,  1905). 


THE   FOREST  RESOURCES   OF   THE   WORLD.  57 

Greece  was  able  to  extend  her  commerce  throughout  the  Mediterra- 
nean and  to  maintain  her  independence. 

Now  the  forests  are  gone  or  are  being  devastated  rapidly.  Reck- 
less cutting,  fires,  and  grazing  will  soon  complete  the  destruction  in  a 
country  where  forests  are  greatly  needed.  Nine-tenths  of  Greece  is 
mountainous.  The  rivers  have  a  rapid  fall  and  resemble  torrents, 
drying  out  in  summer  and  causing  floods  and  destruction  in  autumn 
and  winter. 

Information  regarding  forests  and  forestry  is  extremely  meager. 
From  the  fact  that  agricultural  science  is  not  highly  developed,  one 
may  safely  infer  that  forestry  is  in  no  better  condition.  The  chief 
cause  of  unwise  use  of  natural  resources  must  be  sought  in  the  lack 
of  knowledge  on  the  part  of  the  people. 

Although  industrially  undeveloped,  Greece  has  not  enough  wood 
to  provide  for  home  consumption.  Annual  imports  amount  to 
275,387  cubic  feet. 

TURKEY. 

It  is  impossible  to  obtain  figures  for  the  forests  of  Turkev,  but  the 
forest  situation  in  Turkey  is  no  better  than  in  Greece.  Inhere  may 
still  be  some  remote  corners  of  merchantable  forest,  but  the  country 
as  a  whole  must  be  very  poor  in  this  respect.  Here^  as  in  Greece,  the 
ravages  of  man  and  beast  are  equally  severe,  and  in  the  few  forests 
remaining  the  destruction  exceeds  production. 

******* 

The  countries  so  far  considered  are  those  whose  natural  resources 
have  been  more  or  less  fully  explored  and  whose  forests  yield  large 
quantities  of  materials  in  common  use,  which  can  be  delivered  at  a 
low  price  to  market. 

The  forests  of  the  rest  of  the  world  may  be  and  are  botanically 
rich  in  species,  but  do  not  have  great  commercial  value  because  they 
lack  the  kinds  of  wood  needed  in  commerce  and  industry  by  the 
250,000,000  people  composing  the  most  advanced  and  powerful  nations 
of  Europe.  The  richest  forests  in  Europe,  commercially,  are  those 
of  Sweden,  and  yet  botanically  they  are  very  poor,  containing  but 
two  principal  species,  Scotch  pine  and  spruce.  The  forests  of  the 
regions  which  were  not  considered  in  the  previous  pages  will  be 
discussed  under  continents ;  and  since  our  knowledge  concerning  those 
forests  is,  in  the  majority  of  cases,  very  meager,  they  can  be  treated 
only  in  a  general  way. 

ASIA. 

The  forests  of  British  East  India,  Japan,  Siberia,  and  Caucasus 
were  mentioned  before.  The  forests  of  the  Philippines  will  be  taken 
up  in  connection  with  those  of  the  United  States. 

CHINA. 

The  forests  of  China  are  practically  unknown.  Undoubtedly  there 
must  be  some  forests,  since  wood  is  used  for  building  homes,  etc.  In 
Manchuria,  in  the  three  eastern  provinces  of  the  Chinese  Empire, 
there  are  apparently  large  forests,  but  nothing  is  known  of  their 
extent.  The  species  of  economic  importance  in  Manchuria  are  birch, 
alder,  oak,  maple,  elm,  cork  tree,  poplar,  ash,  fir,  spruce,  pine,  and 
willow.  The  forests  must  be  sufficient  for  local  needs.  As  to  the 


58  THE  FOREST  RESOURCES  OF  THE  WORLD. 

western  provinces  of  China,  they  need  foreign  timber  and  receive  it 
from  the  United  States  and  Canada. 

The  imports  are  not  very  great  as  yet,  but  have  increased  consid- 
erably compared  with  the  imports  of  the  sixties  and  seventies.  From 
the  United  States  and  Canada,  China  receives  principally  saw  timber. 
Eventually,  when  the  country  enters  upon  active  construction  of  rail- 
roads, the  demand  for  timber  will  increase  enormously.  With  380,- 
000,000  people,  when  it  becomes  an  industrially  developed  country, 
China  will  be  a  large  buyer  of  wood  in  the  world's  market. 

PERSIA. 

Persia  is  almost  treeless.  Over  the  largest  part  of  it  trees  grow 
only  in  parks  surrounding  cities.  Only  the  Caspian  provinces  are 
rich  in  forests  of  all  kinds.  Here,  on  account  of  the  fertility  of  the 
soil,  abundance  of  moisture  in  the  soil,  and  high  temperature,  vegeta- 
tion is  extremely  luxuriant  and  dense.  The  whole  northern  slope  of 
the  Elburz  Mountains,  skirting  the  southern  shore  of  the  Caspian,  is 
covered  with  forests.  In  this  region  many  species  are  found — elm, 
oak,  plane  tree,  cherry,  plum,  etc. ;  but  the  most  valuable  tree  is  the 
box  (Buxus  sempervirens) ,  from  which  is  extracted  a  gum  which  is 
used  by  the  people  for  chewing.  It  is  considered  very  good  for  pre- 
serving the  teeth  and  is  a  disinfectant.  In  Europe  the  Buxus  sem- 
pervirens is  used  in  engraving.  This  tree  is  now  practically  extermi- 
nated in  all  places  where  it  was  accessible,  being  now  only  found  in 
the  northwestern  extremity  of  the  Caspian  region. 

BRITISH    POSSESSIONS    IN    ASIA. 
CEYLON. 

Next  to  East  India,  Ceylon  is  the  most  heavily  wooded  Asiatic  pos- 
session of  Great  Britain.  Its  forest  area  is  given  as  6,762,880  acres, 
or  42  per  cent  of  the  total  area  of  the  island. 

The  number  of  species  is  very  great,  among  which  ebony  and  satin- 
wood  are  the  best  known.  In  general  the  composition  comes  very 
close  to  that  of  British  India ;  oeside  the  species  found  in  British 
India,  the  bamboo,  eucalyptus,  beech  (Fagus  religiosa),  and  a  great 
number  of  others  are  found. 

The  local  consumption  of  big  timber  is  small.  Although  Ceylon 
exports  rare  woods,  like  ebony  and  satinwood,  it  needs  timber  for 
construction  and  has  an  excess  of  imports  over  exports. 

The  Ceylon  climate  is  adapted  to  growing  rubber  trees,  and  this 
industry  has  been  started  on  a  large  scale.  At  the  close  of  1900  there 
were  1,763  acres  of  all  kinds  of  plantations. 

THE    FEDERATED   MALAY   STATES. 

The  total  forest  area  of  the  Malay  States  is  not  known,  except  that 
the  British  Government  has  established  several  forest  reserves  with 
an  aggregate  area  of  101,560  acres. 

THE    STRAITS    SETTLEMENTS. 

According  to  Mr.  H.  C.  Heel,  late  inspector-general  of  the  forests 
to  the  government  of  India,  88,320  acres,  or  9  per  cent  of  the  total 
area  of  the  Straits  Settlements,  have  been  declared  reserved  state  for- 


THE  FOREST  RESOURCES  OF  THE   WORLD. 


59 


ests.     The  colony  exports  a  great  deal  of  rubber,  and  the  cultivation 
of  rubber  plants  is  a  profitable  enterprise. 


CYPRUS. 


The  island  of  Cyprus,  lying  in  the  Mediterranean  Sea  off  Asia 
Minor,  is  on  the  whole  scantily  wooded.  An  area  of  448,000  acres  is 
classed  as  forest,  but  many  parts  of  this  are  of  more  or  less  open  char- 
acter. The  most  common  tree  is  maritime  pine.  There  are  also  found 
Pinus  laricio,  several  species  of  oak,  plane  tree,  alder,  cedar,  cypress, 
juniper,  elm,  and  walnut.  Rhus  coriaria  (the  sumac  of  commerce), 
carob,  and  olive  flourish. 

TERRITORIES    OF   BRITISH   NORTH   BORNEO   AND   SARAWAK. 

The  total  forest  area  of  Borneo  and  Sarawak  is  not  known.  The 
territories  are  rich  in  timber  and  other  products  of  the  forest,  as 
gutta-percha  and  india  rubber.  The  exports  of  timber  exceed  the 
imports  in  volume. 

FRENCH    POSSESSIONS    IN   ASIA. 

The  forests  of  the  Indio-Chinese  possessions  of  France  and  coun- 
tries under  its  protectorate  are  large,  but  are  very  little  known  and 
very  little  used,  although  they  include  almost  the  same  species  as  are 
found  in  the  forests  of  British  India. 


DUTCH   POSSESSIONS    IN   ASIA. 

Large  forest  areas  are  found  in  the  colonies  of  the  Netherlands,  on 
the  islands  of  Java  and  Sumatra,  and  part  of  Borneo.  The  forests 
of  Java  are  most  known.  They  comprise  4,920,000  acres. 

AUSTRALIA  AND  OCEANIA. 

In  Australia  forests  in  the  European  sense  are  very  seldom  met 
with,  except  in  the  form  of  a  few  thousand  acres  of  artificial  planta- 
tions. The  Australian  forest  exists  either  as  thicket,  open  forest,  or 
chaparral  growth.  The  tree-forest  region  of  the  mainland  is  almost 
entirely  along  the  coast.  The  areas  under  forest  in  the  different  colo- 
nies have  been  estimated  as  follows: 

TABLE  21. — Area  of  forests  of  Australasia,  by  colonies. 


Colony. 

Area  of  for- 
ests. 

Land 
area 
under 
forest. 

Queensland                                                                                              

Acres. 
39,680,000 

Per  cent. 
9.0 

New  South  Wales 

19.840,000 

10.0 

Victoria                                                                                      

11,520,000 

20.0 

South  Australia                                                                                            

3,840,000 

.7 

West  \ustralia                                                                             

20,480,000 

3.3 

Tasmania                                                            

10,880,000 

65.0 

New  Zealand  

20,480,000 

31.0 

Total  or  average                                                 

126,720,000 

19.8 

60 


THE  FOREST  RESOURCES  OF  THE  WORLD. 


The  distribution  of  forests  in  Australasia,  as  may  be  seen  from 
this  table,  is  very  different  in  the  various  colonies.  Thus,  while  in 
South  Australia  the  forest  does  not  occupy  1  per  cent  of  the  total 
land  area,  in  Tasmania  it  forms  more  than  half  the  total  area. 

The  mainland  and  Tasmania  are  the  home  of  the  eucalypts  and 
wattles.  New  Zealand,  especially  in  the  northern  island,  is  rich  in 
conifers,  of  which  the  Kauri  pine  is  the  most  valuable.  The  thicket 
forest  of  Australia,  especially  of  the  east  coast,  has  a  primeval  char- 
acter. The  open  forest  contains  chiefly  hard  woods,  especially  the 
eucalypts,  and  the  chaparral  forests  contain  acacias. 

Recently  nearly  all  colonies  have  withdrawn  smaller  or  larger 
areas  as  timber  reserves,  the  exploitation  and  care  of  which  is  regu- 
lated by  law.  Thus,  in  Queensland, of  the  40,000,000  acres,  1,500,000 
acres  have  been  declared  timber  reserves;  in  New  South  Wales,  of 
the  20,000,000  acres  of  timber  lands,  6,000,000  acres  have  been  with- 
drawn from  settlement,  but  not  in  perpetuity;  in  South  Australia, 
of  the  3,840,000  acres,  217,000  acres  were  declared  reserves  under  the 
forest  law  of  1882,  but  of  this  area  only  one-fifth  contains  timber  of 
commercial  value,  the  rest  being  stocked  with  stunted  trees  and  scrub ; 
in  addition,  there  are  13,000  acres  planted  chiefly  to  sugar  gum,  pines, 
American  ash,  and  other  trees;  in  West  Australia  there  are  20,- 
480,000  acres  of  timber  lands,  and  more  than  four  times  as  much 
jungle  covered  with  small  trees  and  scrub. 

In  the  following  statement  are  shown  the  most  important  trees  in 
West  Australia,  the  areas  which  they  cover,  and  the  quantity  of 
timber  standing  on  them: 

Area  and  stand  of  timber  of  principal  species  in  West  Australia. 


Species. 

Area  of 
forests. 

Total  commer- 
cial timber. 

Per  acre. 

Jarrah                                                                                   

Acres. 
8,000,000 

Cubic  feet. 
2,000,1100,000 

Cubic  feet. 
250 

Karri 

1,200  000 

750  000  000 

625 

Tuart  .                 

200.000 

15,000,000 

75 

Other  soecios 

11,000,000 

350  000  000 

30 

Total                                                    

20,400,000 

3,115,000,000 

150 

No  timber  land  has  bee'n  placed  in  reserves.  Tasmania,  with 
11,000,000  acres  of  forest,  equal  to  65  per  cent  of  the  total  area  of 
the  island,  has  a  reservation  of  266,000  acres;  it  is,  however,  subject 
to  revocation  at  any  time  by  the  governor. 

The  forest  area  of  New  Zealand  is  variously  estimated  at  from 
20,000,000  acres,  or  31  per  cent  of  the  total  area,  to  only  12,000,000 
acres;  by  an  act  of  1885,  1,250,000  acres  were  declared  timber  reserves. 
In  Victoria,  of  the  11,520,000  acres,  5,500,000  acres  have  been  de- 
clared reserves  under  the  act  of  1890. 

Thus  the  colonies  of  Australasia  possess  an  area  of  nearly 
15,000,000  acres,  corresponding  to  the  state  forests  of  Europe.  A 
great  part  of  this  area,  however,  may  be  reopened  to  settlement. 

There  are  only  fragmentary  figures  regarding  the  cut  in  the  forests 
of  the  Australian  colonies.  The  cutting  is  leased  under  a  system  of 
royalties  or  licensing  fees.  JVhile  West  Australia,  Tasmania,  and 
Queensland  have  an  excess  of  exports  over  imports,  Victoria,  New 


THE   FOREST  RESOURCES   OF   THE   WORLD.  61 

South  Wales,  and  South  Australia  have  an  excess  of  imports  over 
exports.  For  Australia,  as  a  whole,  the  imports  at  present  exceed 
the  exports,  and  therefore  it  must  be  classed  among  the  countries 
deficient  in  timber.  The  forest  area  of  Australia  ought  to  be  suffi- 
cient to  supply  fully  the  local  needs.  New  Zealand  also,  with  its  mild 
and  moist  climate  and  its  great  mountain  chains  and  magnificent 
coniferous  forests,  resembling  those  of  the  Northern  Hemisphere, 
ought  to  be  able  to  supply  large  quantities  of  timber  for  export  to  her 
neighbors.  Some  statisticians,  like  Melard,  think  that  the  forests 
of  Australia  have  been  devastated,  and  that  a  country  which  lives  by 
sheep  (in  1896  Australia  possessed  89,745,000)  can  not  raise  at  the 
same  time  both  sheep  and  forests,  as  sheep  require  daily  more  extended 
grazing  grounds  at  the  expense  of  the  forest.  Others  believe  that 
the  forests  of  Australia  are  not  yet  opened,  and  that  eventually  they 
will  be  fully  able  to  supply  enough  good  timber  at  least  for  home 
consumption.  At  present  the  deficit  is  covered  by  importations  from 
the  United  States,  Sweden,  and  Russia. 

HAWAII. 

The  total  area  of  native  forerts  in  Hawaii  has  recently  been  com- 
puted as  1,174,992  acres.  In  addition  to  this  is  the  Algaroba  forest 
of  approximately  50,000  acres.  There  are  established  at  present  in 
Hawaii  16  forest  preserves,  comprising  in  all  444,116  acres. 

The  forest  resources  of  Hawaii  'will  be  more  fully  discussed  in 
connection  with  those  of  the  United  States. 

AFRICA. 

The  forests  of  Africa  are  as  yet  very  little  explored.  There  is  no 
doubt  that  in  some  parts  of  it  there  are  to  be  found  very  valuable 
trees.  The  French  and  English  colonies  are  best  known. 

FRENCH    POSSESSIONS    IN   AFRICA. 
ALGIERS. 

In  1900  the  forests  of  Algiers  occupied  an  area  of  nearly  8,000,000 
acres,  a  great  portion  of  which  is  unproductive.  The  State  owns 
6,250,000  acres,  or  77  per  cent  of  the  total;  private  individuals 
1,250,000  acres;  and  communes,  192,000  acres.  Forests  occupy  in 
different  parts  of  the  country  from  4  to  25  per  cent  of  the  total  land 
area. 

Botanically,  the  Algerian  forests  are  very  rich.  The  principal 
species  are  cork  oak  (1,025,000  acres)  and  pine  (2,000,000  acres); 
other  species  cover  470,000  acres. 

TUNIS   AND    OTHER   COLONIES. 

In  Tunis  the  forests  occupy  2,027,000  acres,  nearly  all  in  the  north- 
ern part  of  the  country.  Like  the  Algerian  forests,  they  are  greatly 
devastated  by  fires  and  grazing.  The  productive  area  is  probably 
not  more  than  1 ,630,000  acres.  Of  this  the  State  owns  1 , 1 58,740  acres, 
or  77  per  cent;  the  rest  belongs  to  private  individuals,  societies,  etc. 


62  THE  FOREST  RESOURCES   OF   THE   WORLD. 

The  prevailing  species  is  oak;  cork  oak  occupies  290,000  acres;  all 
other  oaks,  117,500  acres. 

The  island  of  Madagascar  has  about  25,000,000  acres  of  forest,  or 
19  per  cent  of  the  total  land  area. 

All  other  African  possessions  of  France  contain  valuable  species, 
but  the  extent  of  the  forests  is  little  known. 

BRITISH    POSSESSIONS    IN    AFRICA. 

SOUTH   AFRICA. 

The  total  forest  area  of  South  Africa  in  May,  1905,  was  640,502 
acres. a  This  area  includes  the  whole  of  South  Africa  south  of  the 
Zambesi,  with  the  exception  of  Rhodesia  and  Portuguese  East  Africa, 
for  which  data  are  wanting.  While  there  is  forest  of  some  eco- 
nomic importance  in  the  Portuguese  territory  and  on  the  Rhodesian 
plateau,  none  of  the  regions  has  any  appreciable  area  of  dense 
forest  comparable  to  that  of  Natal,  Cape  Colony,  and  Transvaal. 
This  forest  area  is  distributed  as  follows  among  the  different  colo- 
nies: Cape  Colony,  529,502  acres;  Natal,  excluding  scrub  forest, 
90,000  acres  (old  Natal,  40,000,  and  Zululand,  50,000);  Swaziland, 
1,000  acres;  and  Transvaal,  20,000  acres;  making  a  total  of  640,502 
acres. 

Deducting  from  this  total  area  the  very  poorly  stocked  cedar  for- 
ests, there  remains  524,408  acres  of  yellow  wood  (Podocarpus  elon- 
gate, and  P.  ihunbergii),  the  most  valuable  species  of  South  Africa. 
Of  this  amount,  23,535  acres  are  artificial  plantations.  As  may  be 
seen  from  these  figures,  Cape  Colony  contains  the  largest  amount  of 
forest,  which  represents  not  quite  0.3  per  cent  of  the  total  area  of  the 
colony.  The  forest  area  per  inhabitant  in  1901  was  0.22  of  an  acre, 
which  is  not  sufficient  to  supply  the  needs  of  the  people. 

Very  little  definite  information  exists  in  regard  to  the  forest  areas 
in  the  other  British  possessions  in  Africa,  such  as  the  west  coast  of 
Africa,  the  East  Africa  Protectorate,  Uganda  Protectorate,  Central 
Africa  Protectorate,  the  Soudan,  and  Mauritius,  beyond  the  amounts 
of  exports  of  rubber  and  gums.  One  thing  is  certain,  and  that  is  that 
they  do  not  contain  sufficient  timber  to  supply  their  own  needs. 

THE  SAHARA  AND  EQUATORIAL  ZONE. 

Melard  divides  Africa,  in  accordance  with  the  distribution  of  rain- 
fall, into  four  zones,  parallel  to  the  equator — the  Atlas  and  Mediter- 
ranean slopes,  the  Sahara,  the  Equatorial  zone,  and  the  South  Africa 
zone. 

The  Atlas  and  Mediterranean  slopes  comprise  Tunis  and  Algeria 
and  the  other  French  colonies,  the  forest  resources  of  which  have 
been  discussed  above.  The  South  African  zone  includes  the  British 
and  Portuguese  possessions,  the  forest  resources  of  which  have  also 
been  discussed. 

The  Sahara,  with  the  exception  of  small  oases  where  palms  are  cul- 
tivated, has  no  forests.  Egypt  belongs  to  the  Sahara  zone;  it  has 

a  Forests  in  South  Africa,  D.  E.  Hutchins,  Capetown,  South  Africa;  from  Science  in 
South  Africa,  August,  1905. 


THE   FOREST  RESOURCES  OF   THE   WORLD.  63 

no  forests,  and  its  demand  for  timber  is  constantly  increasing  as  a 
result  of  the  growing  industries  and  the  extension  or  railroads. 

The  Equatorial  zone  is  supposed  to  contain  virgin  forests  able  to 
replace  Canada  and  Sweden  in  the  market.  Melard  shows  that  the 
Equatorial  forest  is  much  less  rich  and  extensive  than  has  been 
thought.  Near  the  Gulf  of  Guinea,  between  10°  N.  and  4°  S.,  there 
is  a  wooded  area  which  is  estimated  at  from  45  to  60  miles  wide. 
East  of  this  zone  are  found  savannas,  covered  for  hundreds  of  miles 
with  coarse  grass  and  scrub  growth.  Such  is  the  Soudan,  and 
the  French  and  Belgian  Kongo  as  far  east  as  the  upper  basin  of  the 
Kongo  River  and  its  tributaries,  where  another  large  forest  area  is 
found.  The  Equatorial  zone  thus  consists  of  two  great  forests,  one 
along  the  western  coast  of  Guinea  and  the  other  in  the  center  on  the 
upper  basin  of  the  Kongo  River,  divided  by  a  vast  treeless  area.  No 
definite  information  exists  about  these  tropical  forests  of  Central 
Africa  beyond  the  fact  that  they  contain  many  precious  cabinet 
woods,  dyewoods,  etc.  '  t 

CENTRAL  AND  SOUTH  AMERICA. 
MEXICO. 

;  -  •  ii  "  ' 
FOREST  AREA. 

The  area  of  the  forests  of  Mexico  is  estimated  at  from  20,000,000 
to  25,000,000  acres  of  commercially  valuable  timber,  or  5.1  per  cent 
of  the  land  area.  The  forest  area  per  capita  is  1.8  acres.  The  bulk 
of  the  forests  apparently  belongs  to  the  Government,  which  works 
the  forests  on  a  system  of  leases. 

COMPOSITION. 

The  forests  of  Mexico  are  of  two  distinct  kinds — the  tropical  forests 
along  the  coast  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  composed  of  mahogany,  Span- 
ish cedar,  rosewood,  and  other  rare  woods,  and  the  pine  and  oak 
forests  of  the  mountains,  principally  in  the  Sierra  Madre  on  the  Pacific 
side  of  the  Mexican  plateau. 

Of  these  two  types,  the  pine  forest  is  by  far  the  more  important 
from  the  standpoint  of  the  timber  trade.  These  forests  are  very 
inaccessible,  however,  and  little  is  known  about  the  character  of  the 
timber,  though  some  idea  can  be  gained  from  the  fact  that  a  tract 
of  1,000,000  acres,  recently  sold,  was  estimated  to  have  a  stand  of 
8,000  board  feet  per  acre,  composed  two-thirds  of  pine  and  one-third 
of  oak.  This  is  probably  somewhat  above  the  average  for  the  whole 
area  of  pine  forest. 

The  species  found  in  the  pine  forests  are  known  as  white,  sugar, 
and  yellow  pines,  red  and  white  firs,  and  many  species  of  red  and 
white  oaks. 

ANNUAL  CUT,  GROWTH,  AND  CONSUMPTION. 

The  forest  resources  of  Mexico  have  been  very  little  developed  as 
yet ;  the  pine  timber  is  very  inaccessible  and  the  tropical  hard-wood 
forests  have  been  worked  only  to  a  limited  extent  for  mahogany  and 
cedar.  Figures  on  the  growth  of  the  forests  and  the  wood  consump- 
tion are  lacking.  The  annual  cut  of  timber  is  given  at  225,000,000 


64  THE  FOREST  RESOURCES   OF   THE  WORLD. 

board  feet  of  manufactured  stock,  or  approximately  37,500,000  cubic 
feet  of  logs;  and  it  is  estimated  that  Mexico  imports  70  per  cent  of 
its  timber  consumption.  Assuming  that  this  is  correct,  the  home 
consumption  of  manufactured  stock,  including  ties,  would  be  125,- 
000,000  cubic  feet,  or  9  cubic  feet  per  capita.  This  low  consumption 
is  due  to  the  still  undeveloped  resources  of  the  country.  Whether 
Mexico  will  be  able  to  supply  its  own  needs  of  timber  is  questionable. 
At  present  its  imports  are  more  than  three  times  what  is  cut  at  home. 
Ninety-nine  per  cent  of  all  the  imports  come  from  the  United  States. 

WOOD   PRICES. 

The  stumpage  price  for  pine,  in  the  remotest  and  -least  accessible 
portions  of  the  country,  is  as  low  as  75  cents  per  thousand  feet. 
Standard-gauge  pine  ties  sell  at  45  cents  and  oak  ties  at  57  cents 
apiece  delivered  at  the  railroad.  Green  lumber  from  the  saw  is  sold 
at  from  $17.50  to  $32.50  per  thousand  feet  b.  m. 

Mahogany  and  cedar  logs  shipped  from  Gulf  qf  Mexico  points 
f.  o.  b.  New  York  command  the  following  prices:  Laguna  cedar 
(Cedrella  odorata),  $45  to  $60  per  thousand  board  feet;  Lacuna 
mahogany  (Swietenia  mahagoni),  $40  to  $55;  cedar  from  other  points, 
$32.50  to  $57.50;  mahogany  from  other  points,  $30  to  $50. 

CENTRAL   AMERICA. 

The  five  Central  American  Republics  possess  extensive  forest  areas, 
which,  however,  are  so  little  explored  that  there  are  no  data  as  to 
their  extent  or  volume.  The  reason  for  the  existence  of  large  forest 
areas  in  Central  America  is  not  due  in  any  way  to  the  care  of  them 
by  the  people,  but  to  the  fact  chiefly  that  they  are  inaccessible  on 
account  of  lack  of  roads  or  any  other  means  of  transportation. 

SOUTH    AMERICA. 

According  to  Semler,a  South  America  has  an  enormous  forest 
wealth.  With  the  exception  of  the  prairies  of  Uruguay  and  Argen- 
tina, most  of  the  continent  is  coverecl  with  forests.  The  whole  chain 
of  the  Andes  Mountains  is  wooded,  the  forests,  according  to  altitude, 
latitude,  and  exposure,  being  of  different  composition.  The  cutting 
has  not  as  vet  impaired  their  value,  because,  first,  the  countries  of 
South  America  are  still  very  thinly  settled;  and  second,  which  is 
more  important,  there  are  comparatively  few  rivers  suitable  for 
transporting  timber  to  the  coast.  Not  a  single  State  has  made  any 
forest  survey  or  has  any  clear  idea  of  its  forest  resources. 

The  eastern  coast  of  South  America,  south  of  Rio  de  la  Plata  to 
the  Straits  of  Magellan,  is  extremely  sparsely  wooded.  Only  here  and 
there  are  found  a  few  thorny  acacias,  and  along  the  rivers  individual 
groups  of  willows,  and  occasionally  antarctic  beech,  forms  larger 
stands.  In  remarkable  contrast  to  these  are  the  islands  of  Tierra 
del  Fuego,  which,  according  to  Darwin,  are  completely  covered  with 
forest. 

aTropische  imd  Nordamerikanische  Waldwirtechaft  und  Holzkunde — Heinrich 
Semler,  Berlin,  1888, 


THE  FOREST  RESOURCES   OF   THE   WORLD.  65 

North  of  the  Rio  de  la  Plata  in  Uruguay  one  finds  small  forests  of 
no  commercial  value  along  the  rivers,  but  they  supply  the  needs  of 
the  few  people  who  live  there. 

An  entirely  different  picture  is  presented  in  Paraguay,  whose 
slopes  toward  the  Parana  River  are  covered  with  almost  impene- 
trable forests.  On  the  slopes  toward  the  Paraguay  River  are  the 
settlements;  here  is  open  grass  land,  and  only  the  hills,  as  a  rule, 
are  wooded.  According  to  a' statement,  which,  however,  needs  con- 
firmation, there  are  seventy  kinds  of  woods  which  are  commercially 
useful,  two  of  which,  lapacho  and  quebracho,  were  used  by  the  Jesuits 
in  constructing  their  missions  and  are  still  well  preserved  in  the 
ruins.  Fifteen  kinds  of  trees  yield  dyewoods,  and  eight  yield  fibers. 

The  forests  of  Brazil  cover  an  area  equal  to  one-half  of  Europe. 
The  Amazon  flows  for  a  distance  of  1,860  miles  through  a  virgin 
forest  which  stretches  1,100  miles  from  east  to  west  and  750  miles  from 
north  to  south,  and  occupies  an  area  of  825,000  square  miles.  Many 
of  the  Brazilian  woods  have  excellent  properties.  The  following  are 
among  the  most  valuable:  Pernambuco  (Csesalpinia  echinata),  fustic 
(Chlorophora  tinctoria),  both  of  which  occur  only  near  the  coast;  Jaca- 
randa,  ironwood  (Csesalpinia  ferrea) ,  and  cedar  (Cedrela  brasiliensis) . 
The  forests  yield  other  valuable  products,  as  rubber,  Brazil  nuts, 
Paraguay  tea,  guarana,  gums,  and  resins. 

Guiana  is  relatively  just  as  rich  in  forests  as  Brazil,  especially 
British  Guiana,  which  lias  the  advantage  of  four  large  rivers  which, 
with  their  tributaries,  are  very  suitable  for  floating  logs.  For  this 
reason  the  exploitation  of  these  forests  has  advanced  further  than  in 
any  other  part  of  the  country.  British  Guiana  furnishes  two  of  the 
most  valuable  trees  for  shipbuilding — greenheart  (Nectandra  rodesei) 
and  mora  (Dimorphandra  mom).  Greenheart  is  the  more  important, 
and  is  so  hard  that  it  nicks  the  axes  of  choppers  and  will  last  for 
over  one  hundred  years  in  water.  Dutch  Guiana  has  a  very  impor- 
tant wood  in  the  purpleheart  (Copaifera  pubiflora  Benth.),  which  is 
suitable  for  the  use  of  wheelwrights.  French  Guiana  has  a  very 
important  wood,  the  so-called  violet  wood  (Bois  violet—  Copaifera 
puoiflora  Benth.),  which  is  especially  suited  for  woodworking. 

Venezuela  is  for  the  most  part  a  prairie.  Its  most  extensive  forests 
are  found  on  the  lower  course  of  the  Oronoco  River.  The  home  pro- 
duction hardly  exceeds  the  home  consumption,  the  only  wood  that  is 
exported  being  ZygopJiillum  arborea. 

Colombia,  though  partially  a  prairie  State,  possesses  more  forests 
than  Venezuela.  The  exports,  however,  are  insignificant  because  of 
lack  of  transportation  facilities.  Ecuador  and  Peru  are  in  the 
mountain  region  of  the  Andes,  and  have  exceptionally  luxuriant  and 
extensive  forests,  which  are,  however,  entirely  inaccessible.  Both  of 
them  import  wood  from  North  America. 

The  northern  part  of  Chile  has  no  forests.  Forests  are  found  only 
in  the  south,  beginning  at  San  Jago,  especially  in  the  provinces  of 
Arauco,  Valdivia,  and  Chiloe,  but  are  rapidly  disappearing,  not  on 
account  of  any  great  drain  upon  them  for  home  consumption  or 
export,  but  because  the  land  is  needed  for  agriculture.  The  forests 
are  burned  and  treated  by  the  people  as  an  enemy,  as  was  the  case  in 
this  country  at  the  time  of  the  earliest  colonization. 
55826°— Bull.  83—10 5 


66  THE  FOREST  RESOURCES  OF  THE  WORLD. 

While  at  present  South  America  imports  some  timber,  it  is  hardly 
to  be  expected  that  these  imports  will  greatly  increase  in  the  future. 

On  the  contrary,  they  will  probably  decrease,  as  the  forests  become 
opened  up  and  are  made  more  accessible. 

WEST  INDIES. 

Semler  takes  a  very  gloomy  view  of  forest  conditions  hi  the  West 
Indies.  He  thinks  that  on  the  whole  the  West  Indies  present  a  sad 
picture  of  forest  destruction.  The  small  islands  are  robbed  of  their 
former  forest  wealth ;  and  the  large  ones,  like  Jamaica,  San  Domingo, 
and  Cuba,  have  only  remnants.  What  little  is  left  is  almost  entirely 
in  the  hands  of  private  individuals,  and  nothing  is  done  for  the 
preservation  of  the  forests. 

John  T.  Rea,a  who  lived  for  four  years  in  the  West  Indies,  takes  a 
more  optimistic  view  of  the  situation,  and  since  his  observations  are 
more  recent  and  many  of  them  are  original  they  are  apparently  more 
trustworthy  than  Sender's.  According  to  Rea's  statement,  two-thirds 
of  most  of  the  West  Indian  islands  are  still  in  virgin  brush  and  forest, 
which  are  capable  of  yielding  a  plentiful  supply  of  good  material. 
Thus  the  Layon  and  Sara  flats,  or  crown  lands  of  Dominica,  have  an 
area  of  40  square  miles,  and  contain  a  mine  of  wealth  in  timber.  In 
Trinidad,  he  estimates  that  there  are  at  least  300,000  acres  of  forest 
land. 

The  total  area  of  the  West  Indies  is  about  100,000  square  miles. 
The  trees  on  the  whole  are  not  very  large,  and  yield  as  a  rule  only 
small  scantlings.  Some  of  the  woods  are  useful  for  building  and 
engineering  work,  but  they  are  valuable  principally  for  furniture, 
paneling,  cabinet,  and  other  fancy  work.  The  immense  variety  of 
small  articles,  such  as  knife  handles,  knobs,  buttons,  etc.,  which  are 
now  manufactured  from  choice  grained  woods,  opens  a  ready  market 
for  many  West  Indian  timbers,  the  beauty  of  which  can  not  be  sur- 
passed. Gum  and  resin  yielding  trees  abound,  and  commercially 
valuable  fibers  may  be  stripped  from  quite  a  number  of  them.  The 
bark,  leaves,  and  berries  of  others  furnish  well-known  drugs,  dyes, 
and  spices.  Owing  to  the  fact  that  all  the  best  timber  is  in  the 
inland  forests  with  few  convenient  rivers  for  floating  it  down,  and 
owincj  also  to  the  defective  character  of  the  means  of  communication 
and  the  absence  of  sawmills  and  machinery  for  their  treatment,  the 
native  woods  have  until  lately  been  available  only  in  small  quantities. 
Circular  and  other  rapid  saws  have  been  added  to  the  plant  of  most 
of  the  public  work  yards,  so  that  some  of  the  disadvantages  have 
been  overcome. 

Little  definite  information  is  to  be  had  concerning  the  forest  area 
of  Cuba.  It  probably  does  not  exceed  5,000,000  or  6,000,000  acres, 
which,  with  a  population  of  2,050,000,  makes  the  area  per  capita 
about  3  acres,  and  constitutes  about  20  per  cent  of  the  total  land  area. 
Such  an  area  with  the  small  local  demand  for  wood,  if  the  forests 
are  properly  managed  and  cared  for,  certainly  ought  to  furnish  a 
sufficient  supply  for  home  consumption.  Unfortunately,  however, 
the  forests  olo  not  contain  the  kinds  of  timber  needed  for  most  pur- 
poses, and  hence  large  quantities  are  imported  annually. 

a  The  Indian  Forester,  Dec.,  1902,  p.  44a,  "West  Indian  Timbers," 


THE   FOREST  RESOURCES   OF   THE    WORLD. 


67 


FOREST  RESOURCES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  AND  HOW  THEY 
COMPARE  WITH  THOSE  OF  OTHER  COUNTRIES. 

It  is  intended  here  merely  to  compare  the  most  important  features 
of  the  forest  resources  of  this  country  with  those  of  other  countries.0 
This,  perhaps,  will  serve  at  the  same  time  as  a  summary  of  the 
statistical  facts  brought  out  in  the  preceding  pages. 

FOREST   AREA. 

The  United  States  occupies  the  second  place  among  the  nations 
of  the  world  as  to  the  extent  of  its  forests;  Russia,  European  and 
Asiatic,  comes  first;  Canada  stands  third. 

The  forests  of  the  United  States,  according  to  ownership,  may  be 
roughly  divided  as  follows:  National  forests,  100,000,000  acres  of 
productive  forest  area,  or  18.35  per  cent;  state  forests,  3,000,000 
acres,  or  0.55  per  cent;  and  private  and  unreserved  public  forests 
(unclassified),  442,000,000  acres,  or  81.1  per  cent. 

The  bulk  of  the  forests  is  either  in  private  hands  or  likely  to  pass 
into  private  ownership. 

While  government  and  state  ownership  of  forests  has  invariably 

E roved  the  most  advantageous  form,  yet  the  proportion  of  forest 
md  owned  or  controlled  by  the  State  can  not  always  be  taken  as  a 
criterion  of  the  state  of  development  of  forestry  in  the  country.  The 
Government  may,  for  historic  or  economic  reasons,  have  only  a  small 
area  of  its  own,  but  still  exercise  a  great  influence  over  the  forests 
of  other  owners.  Thus,  Austria  has  only  10.7  per  cent  of  the  total 
forest  area  under  state  ownership,  Switzerland  4.6  per  cent,  France 
12  per  cent,  and  yet  forestry  in  those  countries  is  at  a  high  state  of 
development,  as  all  other  forests  are  under  direct  control  or  the  State, 
which  practically  amounts  to  management  by  the  State. 

Government  and  state  forests  comprise  about  19  per  cent  of  all 
forests;  since  the  bulk  of  the  forests  is  in  private  hands  and  entirely 
outside  of  state  supervision,  the  area  which  is  assured  of  a  proper  and 
careful  management  is  comparatively  small.  Below  is  given  a  com- 
parative table  of  forests  under  state  ownership  in  the  different  coun- 
tries of  the  world : 

TABLE  22. — Percentage  of  forests  under  state  ownership. 


Country. 

Per  cent. 

Country. 

Percent. 

Great  Britain 

2  2 

Norway                             

28.5 

Italy 

4.0 

Bulgaria      

29.6 

4.6 

German  Empire          

31.9 

Belgium. 

4.8 

Sweden  

36.5 

8.0 

Servia           

36.6 

10  7 

Roumania             

40.0 

11  0 

Finland                               

61.2 

12.0 

69.0 

15  0 

Bosnia  and  Herzegovina  

78.6 

Denmark 

23.8 

Spain    

84.0 

United  States  (National  and  State) 

18.9 

a  For  forest  resources  of  the  United  States  see  Forest  Service  Circular  171:  The  Forests  of  the  United 
States:  Their  Use. 


68 


THE  FOREST  RESOURCES   OF   THE   WORLD. 


-To  supplement  Table  22,  it  may  be  added  that  in  the  German 
Empire  66  per  cent  of  the  total  forest  area  is  under  state  control.  In 
Austria,  Hungary,  France,  Switzerland,  Italy,  Sweden,  and  Den- 
mark the  private  forests  are  under  state  control;  and  for  this  reason 
the  forest  area  under  state  supervision  is  much  larger  than  the  figures 
in  the  above  table  would  indicate. 

The  forests  of  the  United  States  form  less  than  29  per  cent  of  the 
entire  land  area.  The  following  table  gives  the  forest  area  and  per- 
centage of  the  entire  land  area  under  forests,  by  States  and  Terri- 
tories. The  forest  area  per  inhabitant  is  about  8  acres,  corresponding 
closely  to  that  in  Sweden  and  Norway. 

TABLE  23. — Forest  area  of  the  United  States,  by  States  and  Territories,  1908. 


Forest 

area. 

State  or  Territory. 

Land  area 
(acres). 

Acres. 

Percent- 
age of 
land  area. 

Alabama 

32  818  560 

20  000  000 

01 

Arizona  

72,  857,  600 

19 

Arkansas 

33,616  000 

24  200  000 

72 

California 

99  898  880 

24  000^600 

24 

Colorado  

'567541,120 

12  UOU  UOO 

18 

Connecticut  

3,  084,  800 

1,600  000 

52 

Delaware 

1  257  600 

350  000 

28 

Florida  

35,111,040 

20,  000,  000 

57 

Georgia    

37,584  000 

22  300  000 

59 

Idaho 

53  618  560 

20  000  000 

37 

Illinois  

35  841  280 

2  500  000 

7 

Indiana 

22,  966,  400 

4,000,000 

17 

Iowa        

35,  575,  040 

2  500  000 

7 

Kansas 

52  335  360 

1  000  000 

2 

Kentucky     

27,  715,  840 

10,  000,  000 

Louisiana  

29,061,760 

16,  500,  000 

57 

Maine 

19,  132  800 

14  900  000 

78 

Maryland 

6  362  240 

2  200  000 

35 

Massachusetts 

5,144,900 

2,000,000 

39 

Michigan 

36  787,200 

15  500  000 

42 

51,749  120 

15,500  000 

30 

Mississippi... 

29,  671,  680 

17,  500,  000 

59 

Missouri  

43,  985,  280 

18,  300,  000 

42 

Montana 

93  290  640 

18  000  000 

19 

Nebraska  

49,  157,  120 

800,000 

2 

Nevada  ... 

70  285  440 

5  000  000 

7 

New  Hampshire  .  . 

5,  779,  840 

3,500,000 

61 

New  Jersey 

4,808  900 

2,000  000 

42 

New  Mexico.  .  . 

78,  401,  920 

12,  000,  000 

15 

New  York  . 

30,  498,  560 

12,  000,  000 

39 

North  Carolina 

31  193  600 

19  600  000 

03 

North  Dakota 

44,  917,  120 

600,000 

1 

Ohio 

26  073  600 

4  gOO  000 

18 

Oklahoma. 

44,  424,  960 

8,000,000 

18 

Oregon 

61,  188,  480 

27,  000,  000 

44 

Pennsylvania  

28,  692,  480 

9,  200,  000 

32 

Rhode  Island 

682,880 

250,000 

37 

South  Carolina        ,  

19,  516,  800 

12,  000,  000 

01 

South  Dakota 

49,  195,  520 

1,200,000 

2 

Tennessee 

26,  679,  680 

15  000  000 

56 

Texas 

167,934,720 

30,000,  OQO 

18 

Utah  

52,597,760 

67000,  (XX) 

11 

Vermont                             .  .                 

5,  839,  360 

2,  500,  000 

43 

Virginia 

25,  767,  680 

14,  000,  000 

54 

Washington     

42,775,040 

58 

West  Virginia 

15,  374,  080 

9,  100,  000 

59 

Wisconsin  

35,  363,  840 

16,  000,  000 

45 

Wyoming 

62,  460,  160 

10,  000,  000 

16 

Total                               

1,903,423,360 

544,  400,  000 

29 

THE  FOREST  RESOURCES   OF   THE   WORLD. 


69 


COMPOSITION. 

The  species  which  are  most  valued  in  international  trade  are  the 
conifers,  such  as  pine,  spruce,  hemlock,  fir,  and  larch.  Coniferous 
forests,  on  the  whole,  as  German  experience  has  shown,  produce  a 
larger  percentage  of  structural  timber  than  hard  woods.  In  Ger- 
many, therefore,  there  is  a  tendency  to  increase  the  area  under  coni- 
fers at  the  expense  of  that  under  hard  woods.  This  tendency  is  also 
often  prompted  by  necessity.  Hard  woods,  as  a,  rule,,  require,  better 
soil  than  conifers,  and  in  countries  where  there  is  need  for  more 
agricultural  land  to  provide  for  an  increasing  population,  the  forests 
are  more  and  more  relegated  to  the  poorer  soils  where  conifers  can 
be  grown  to  better  advantage  than  hard  woods.  •  The  forest  wealth 
of  a  country  is  therefore  determined  not  only  by  the  extent  of  the 
forest,  but  also  by  the  species  that  make  up  the  forest.  As  has 
already  been  pointed  out,  the  richest  forest,  from  a  commercial  stand- 
point, is  that  of  Sweden,  which  consists  chiefly  of  but  two  species, 
pine  and  spruce.  In  the  United  States,  as  a  result  of  the  reckless 
cutting  of  conifers,  especially  in  the  northeastern  States,  and  of 
repeated  fires,  thousands  of  acres  of  coniferous  forests  in  New  England 
have  been  converted  into  poor  hard- wood  forests.  In  the  Catskills  one 
finds  thousands  of  acres  originally  covered  by  hemlock  now  under 
scrubby  hard  woods,  and  the  same  is  true  in  Maine  and  New  Hamp- 
shire. If  the  soil  is  at  all  suited  to  hard  woods,  they  are  favored, 
because  of  their  sprouting  capacity,  by  reckless  cutting  and  burning. 
Thus,  while  Germany  has  increased  its  area  of  coniferous  forests,  the 
area  of  hard-wood  forests  in  this  country  has  probably  increased  at 
the  expense  of  the  coniferous  forest  area.  Below  are  given  the  coun- 
tries and  the  predominance  of  either  hard  wood  or  coniferous  forests : 

Distribution  of  hard  woods  and  conifers,  by  countries. 


Hard  woods  predominate. 

Conifers  pre- 
dominate. 

Hard  woods  predominate. 

Conifers  pre- 
dominate. 

Australia  and  Oceania. 
British  India. 
Hungary. 
Croatia  and  Slavonia. 
France. 
Japan. 

Russia. 
Finland. 
Canada. 
United  States. 
Sweden. 
Norway. 

Spain. 
Portugal. 
Italy. 
British  Isles. 
Holland. 
Denmark. 

Germany. 
Austria. 
Switzerland. 

It  is  hard  to  tell  what  proportion  of  the  total  forest  area  of  the 
United  States  is  under  hard  woods.  From  the  rather  conflicting 
estimates  of  the  present  stand  of  conifers  and  hard  woods  it  would 
seem  that  the  proportion  of  conifers  to  hard  woods  by  volume  is 
about  4  to  1  (on  the  basis  of  Doctor  Fernow's  estimate  of  2,000,000,- 
000,000  feet  b.  m.  of  both  kinds,  and  the  estimate  of  400,000,000 
feet  b.  m.  of  hard  woods  by  the  American  Lumberman). 

Of  all  the  countries  of  the  world  the  United  States  is  the  only  one 
which  has  such  a  variety  of  conditions  as  to  favor  the  growth  of  a 
great  number  of  valuable  species,  both  conifers  and  hard  woods,  over 
large  areas. 


70 


THE  FOEEST  EESOUECES  OF  THE  WORLD. 


PRESENT    STAND. 

The  latest  and  best  estimate  of  the  stumpage  of  the  United  States 
places  it  at  2,500,000,000,000  feet  b.  m.  This,  however,  does  not 
represent  the  forest  capital  in  the  sense  in  which  does  the  estimate 
of  944,700,000,000  board  feet  of  the  German  -Empire.  In  Germany 
the  estimated  stand  is  a  constant  quantity,  a  capital,  which  is  capable 
of  producing  annually  some  50  cubic  feet  per  acre.  In  this  country 
the  stumpage  represents  a  capital  which  is  annually  drawn  upon, 
since  the  cut  does  not  represent  the  annual  growth,  but  exceeds  it. 
With  an  annual  cut  of  about  23,000,000,000  cubic  feet  of  standing 
timber  and  a  forest  area  of  about  545,000,000  acres,  the  cut  per  acre 
is  42  cubic  feet,  while  the  annual  growth  on  the  area  has  been  esti- 
mated at  12  cubic  feet  per  acre. 

The  United  States  is  not  the  only  country  which  at  present  cuts 
more  than  is  annually  produced.  The  different  countries  may  be 
divided  according  to  whether  they  cut  more  than  the  forest  pro- 
duces, less,  or  just  the  same  amount.  In  the  following  table  are 
brought  together  the  data  available  from  the  different  countries  of 
the  world  concerning  the  annual  cut  and  the  annual  growth  per  acre. 

TABLE  24. — Annual  cut  and  annual  growth  per  acre,  in  cubic  feet,  for  various  countries. 


Country. 

Annual 
growth. 

Annual  cut. 

Country. 

Annual 
growth. 

Annual  cut. 

Countries  which  overcut. 

France 

37  9 

37  9 

Switzerland  ....            ... 

51.0 

51.0 

•Austria 

42  4 

60-671 

United  Kingdom 

45  5 

45  5 

Hungary 

44.4 

30-33  U3.0 

Belgium 

?58.  2 

?58  2 

Croatia-Slavonia  

43.4 

30-33J 

Holland  

46.0 

46.0 

A  Canada 

20.0 

o!7.0 

Denmark 

•  Norway 

11.3 

Italy 

37  3 

37.3 

Kou  mania  b 

T 

Spain  b 

Countries  which  cut  less 

Portugal^ 

than  the  growth. 

Greece  b 

Turkey  b      

Russia.  .  .'  

31.0 

17.0 

Bulgaria*  

f      c3.44\1QA 

United  States             .  .  . 

12.0 

42.0 

|   d20.00/13-6 

Sweden  

25.0 

19.1 

Countries  which  cut  Just  the 

British  India 

3.0 

annual  ffrowtn. 

Japan  

35.0 

.  ' 

Servia 

Germany  

48.7 

48.7 

a  Plus  great  fire  loss,  estimated  at  170  cubic  feet  per  acre. 

b  No  definite  figures  on  these  countries,  but  facts  indicate  that  they  are  being  overcut. 

c  State  forests;  38.7  per  cent. 

d  Private  forests,  61.3  per  cent. 

While  in  a  general  way  these  figures  indicate  the  annual  cut  and 
growth  in  the  different  countries,  yet  they  do  not  tell  the  whole  story. 
They  represent  the  total  amount  of  wood  cut  and  produced,  irre- 
spective of  kind. 

In  most  of  the  countries  where,  at  present,  the  forests  are  .being 
overcut — and  they  are  the  countries  which  still  contain  virgin 
timber — the  proportion  of  structural  timber  to  firewood  in  the  cut  is 
much  greater  than  will  be  the  case  in  the  second  growth.  The  figures 
would1  indicate  that  out  of  23,000,000,000  cubic  feet  of  wood  cut 
annually  to  supply  the  forest  products,  9,000,000,000  feet  (allowing 
90  cubic  feet  per  cord),  or  39  per  cent,  is  firewood.  This  estimate  of 
firewood  appears  to  be  too  high,  but  if  it  is  correct,  then  the  proportion 


THE  FOREST  RESOURCES  OF   TIIK   WORLD. 


71 


of  saw-log  timber  in  the  second  cut  will  certainly  be  less  than  half 
of  the  total  amount  of  wood  produced  annually,  because  the  forests 
under  the  present  system  of  cutting  do  not  improve,  but  deteriorate 
in  quality.  This  holds  true  not  only  of  the  United  States,  but  of 
Canada,  Austria,  and  Norway,  while  the  reverse  is  true  of  countries 
like  Germany  and  France,  where  the  percentage  of  saw-log  timber  in 
gradually  increasing  through  proper  methods  of  management. 

The  cut  per  acre  in  such  countries  as  Canada  and  the  United 
States  does  not  represent  the  actual  cut  per  acre,  because  these 
figures  do  not  always  refer  to  the  actual  productive  forest  area,  but 
include  a  great  deal  of  unproductive  lands,  such  as  swamps,  burns, 
etc.  If  the  figures  referred  only  to  the  productive-forest  area,  if  that 
could  be  known,  the  cut  per  acre  would  be  much  higher. 

On  the  whole,  the  figures  of  annual  cut  and  growth  show  a  sad 
state  of  affairs.  ^Countries  which  with  proper  care  for  their  forest 
resources  could  continue  to  be  a  source  of  timber  supply  to  many 
other  countries  deficient  in  wood  are,  with  few  exceptions,  over- 
catting  their  forests  and  rapidly  deteriorating  them. /And  those 
few  countries  with  large  forests  which  do  not  overcut  the  resources 
are  deterred  only  through  want  of  capital  or  lack  of  natural  means 
of  transportation,  such  as  rivers;  and  still  further,  some  other  coun- 
tries, though  they  have  not  enough  forests  to  supply  their  own 
needs,  continue  to  deplete  what  little  they  possess. 
^Trom  the  figures  of  annual  growth  and  cut  in  the  United  States 
it  would  appear  that  the  cut  is  more  than  three  times  the  growth. 
In  point  or  fact,  however,  the  depletion  of  our  forests  goes  on  much 
more  rapidly,  owing  to  loss  by  fire  on  account  of  the  lack  of  protec- 
tien  given  the  forests.  , 

ANNUAL   CONSUMPTION. 

The  consumption  of  wood  is  different  in  various  countries,  being 
dependent  on  the  industrial  development,  on  the  presence  of  coal  for 
fuel,  and  of  substitutes  for  structural  timber.  In  Table  25  are 
brought  together  the  total  annual  consumption  and  the  consumption 
per  capita  in  the  various  countries  of  the  world. 

TABLE  25. — Annual  and  per  capita  consumption  of  wood,  in  cubic  feet,  of  various  countries. 


Country. 

Total  annual 
consumption. 

Consumption  per  capita. 

Total. 

Timber. 

Fire- 
wood. 

United  States                                                 

23,000,000,000 
1,211,209,625 
276,000,000 
404,000,000 
237,000,000 
6,576,280,000 
2,500,000,000 
117,000,000 
2,063,913,300 

260.0 
192.0 
125.0 
120.0 
91.5 
63.0 
57.0 
38.0 
36.6 
30.0 
24.6 
19.8 
17.7 
14.0 
13.1 
13.0 
.8+ 

160.0 
60.0 

100.0 
132.0 

Canada                                                                    

Norway  

Sweden  

25.0 
28.5 
15.7 
18.8 

38.0 
28.5 
22.3 
17.8 

Austria-Hungary^                                      

Germany  

Japan  
France  

954,640,000 
48,826,500 
119,604,126 
670,890,000 
67,200,000 
405,548,000 
236,611,600 

6.9 

17.7 

Denmark  
Belgium  

10.8 
12.8 
10.3 
2.5 

6.9 
1.2 
2.8 
10.5 

United  Kingdom  : 
Holland                                                                      

Italy  

British  India  

72 


THE  POEEST  KESOUKCES  OF   THE  WORLD. 


Thus  the  home  consumption  of  the  United  States  is  larger  than 
that  of  any  other  country  in  the  world.  While  the  exports  amount  to 
2,600,000,000  feet  b.  m.,  the  imports  in  1907  were  1,700,000,000  feet 
b.  m.,  or  an  excess  of  exports  over  imports  of  only  900,000,000  feet 
b.  m.,  or  150,000,000  cubic  feet,  a  practically  insignificant  amount. 
Therefore,  the  annual  cut  of  23,000,000,000  cubic  feet  may  be  taken 
as  the  home  consumption  of  the  United  States. 

WOOD   PRICES. 

There  is  a  certain  relationship  between  the  wood  prices  of  a  country 
and  the  care  which  the  forests  receive.  In  countries  with  large  for- 
ests and  sparse  population,  wood  prices  are  low  and  there  is  very 
little  forest  protection.  In  the  following  table  are  given  wood  prices 
on  the  stump  for  some  leading  European  countries  and  for  the 
United  States: 

TABLE  26. — Wood  prices  on  the  stump  in  various  countries. 


Species. 

Price  of  structural  timber  per  cubic  foot. 

United 
States, 
1907. 

Prussia, 
1902. 

Wurt- 
temberg. 

Hungary, 
1901. 

Oak 

$0.04 
.02 
.033 
.05 

$0.14 
.084 
.096 
.078 

$0.25 

$0.038-$0.11 
.087 

Beech  

Spruce        .. 

Pine 

.13 

.034-    .067 

Species. 

Price  of  cord  wood  per  cord. 

United 

States, 
1907. 

Prussia, 
1902. 

Wurt- 
temberg. 

Hungary, 

1901 

Oak.. 

$1.00 
1.00 

$4.68 
4.68 
2.97 
3.33 

$0.  60-$3.  20 
1.31-  2.60 

Beech 

$8.28 

Spruce 

Pine 

.75 

6.12 

These  figures  simply  give  an  idea  of  the  relative  value  of  wood  in 
various  countries.  A  comparison  of  wood  prices  is  extremely  diffi- 
cult, because  prices  do  not  always  include  the  same  items.  In  some 
countries  the  prices  include  transportation  to  points  of  shipment;  in 
others  they  refer  to  partly  finished  products,  etc.  The  few  figures 
given  in  the  above  table  all  refer  to  the  price  on  the  stump.  The 
stumpage  prices  for  the  United  States  are  taken  from  Bulletin  77, 
page  40,  Forest  Service,  and  167  cubic  feet  are  assumed  to  equal  1,000 
board  feet.  The  prices  in  the  United  States  are  mainly  those  in  the 
East,  and  are  probably  higher  than  if  western  species  were  chosen. 
As  it  is,  oak  timber,  probably  much  poorer  in  quality  than  the  white 
oak  in  this  country,  brings  in  Prussia  over  three  times  as  much  on  the 
stump,  and  in  Wurttemberg  over  six  times  as  much  as  here.  The 
same  holds  true  for  other  species,  except  white  pine,  which  in  New 
Hampshire  and  the  Northeast  is  at  present  bringing  prices  approach- 
ing those  obtained  for  Scotch  pine  in  Prussia  and  Hungary.  In 


THE  FOREST  RESOURCES   OF   THE   WORLD. 


73 


Wurttemberg,  however,  Scotch  pine  brings  close  to  three  times  as 
much  as  white  pine  in  this  country.  The  prices  for  cord  wood  in 
European  countries  are  also  much  higher  than  in  this  country.  Cord 
wood  of  spruce  and  pine  in  this  country  are  omitted,  since  they  are 
used  for  pulp,  and  it  would  not  be  fair  to  compare  them  with  wood 
used  for  firewood  in  other  countries. 

The  difference  in  the  wood  prices  here  and  in  European  countries 
is  very  great  indeed,  but  still  they  do  not  show  the  actual  difference 
in  the  value  obtained  from  timber  in  this  and  other  countries.  These 
figures  refer  only  to  the  used  part,  which  is  much  greater  in  Europe 
than  here,  and  therefore  the  difference  between  the  stumpage  value 
per  tree  obtained  in  this  country  and  abroad  must  be  still  greater. 

*^ 

HOW  FAB  CAN  THE  UNITED   STATES   COUNT  ON  SUPPLIES  FROM 

ABROAD? 

After  a  discussion  of  the  forest  resources  of  the  various  countries 
of  the  world,  the  question  naturally  arises,  How  far,  in  case  the 
resources  of  the  United  States  fail,  can  it  count  on  foreign  sources  of 
supply  ?  It  is  obvious  that  there  must  be  an  increase  in  exports  of 
some  countries,  in  event  of  a  failure  of  this  country's  timber  supply, 
to  make  up  the  deficiency.  It  is  equally  evident  that  if  the  amount 
of  net  imports  of  present  importing  countries  should  increase,  they 
would  compete  with  the  United  States  in  case  it  should  run  short, 
and  thus  necessitate  a  still  greater  output  of  timber  by  the  exporting 
countries. 

It  is  important,  therefore,  to  trace  the  tendencies  of  the  timber 
trade  of  the  various  countries  for  the  last  few  years  to  see  what 
deductions  can  be  drawn  as  to  the  future,  bearing  in  mind  their 
resources,  as  already  brought  out,  and  trying  to  bring  out  the  reason 
why  they  import  or  export.  Table  27  shows  the  amount  of  net  ex- 
ports or  imports  of  the  important  countries  of  the  world. 

TABLE  27. — Net  exports  and  imports  of  forest  products  of  various  countries,  yearly  average, 

1897-1901. 


Country. 


Net  exports. 


Cubic  feet. 


Feet  board 
measure." 


Net  imports. 


Cubic  feet. 


Feet  board 
measure.* 


Russia  (with  Finland) 295,000,000      2,360,000,000 

Sweden  .     223,000,000       1,784,000,000 

Austria-Hungary" "  183,500,000       1,460,000,000 

Canada  '.'.'.'.'... i     107,200,000          857,600,000 

Norway  I      52,000,000          416,000,000 

United  States.  51,000,000          408,000,000 

Roumania  3,000.000  24,000,000 

India  ..         2,750,000  22,000,000 

West  coast  of  Africa 1,300,000  10,400,000 

West  Indies,  Mexico,  Central  America C50, 000  5, 200, 000 

A  laska 

Japan  & 

Ceylon 

Servia 

Mauritius 

Greece 

Philippine  Islands 

Bulgaria 

China 

o  Since  the  figures  include  lumber,  logs,  poles,  and  split  wood,  1  cubic  foot  was  regarded  as  equivalent 
to  8  board  feet.    In  the  original  conversion  from  tons,  1  ton  is  regarded  as  equivalent  to  50  cubic  feet. 

b  Only  construction  timber  included;  judged  by  value,  Japan  is  an  exporting  country 


170,000 

250,000 

500,000 

750,000 

1,000,000 

1,750,000 

2,000,000 

2,500,000 

2,500,000 


1,360,000 

2,000,000 

4,000,000 

6,000,000 

8,000,000 

14,000,000 

16, 000, 000 

20,000,000 

20,000,000 


THE  FOREST  "RESOURCES  OF   THE  WORLD. 


TABLE  27. — Net  exports  and  imports  of  forest  products  of  various  countries,  yearly  average, 

1897-1901— Continued. 


Country. 

Net  exports. 

Net  imports. 

Cubic  feet. 

Feet  board 
measure. 

Cubic  feet. 

Feet  board 
measure. 

Natal  

2,500,000 
3,000,000 
7,500,000 
8,000,000 
8,500,000 
9,000,000 
10,  000,  000 
10,500,000 
16,500,000 
21,000,000 
23,500,000 
51,000.000 
61,500,000 
230,000,000 
464,500,000 

20,000,000 
24,000,000 
60,000,000 
64,000,000 
68,000,000 
72,  000,  000 
80,000,000 
84,000,000 
132,000,000 
168,000,000 
188,000,000 
408,000,000 
492,  000,  000 
1,840,000,000 
3,716,000,000 

1 

Portugal 

Cape  of  Good  Hope  

Australia 

Switzerland 

Holland..                            

Eevnt 

Spain  .  .             i  

South  America 

Italy  

Denmark 

Belgium 



France                              



Germany 

British  Isies                   



The  relation  between  forest  area  per  capita  and  export  or  import 
of  timber  can  be  seen  from  the  following  table. a  " 

It  will  be  noticed  that  countries  with  92  or  more  acres  per  100 
inhabitants  have  a  surplus  of  exports  over  imports,  while  those  with 
85  acres  or  less  have  a  surplus  of  imports  over  exports. 

Relation  between  forest  area  per  100  inhabitants  and  exports  and  imports  of  the  different 

countries. 


Country. 

Forest 
land 
per  100 
inhabit- 
ants. 

Excess  of 
exports 
over 
imports.^ 

Excess  of 
imports 
over 
exports,  c 

Exporting  countries. 
Canada 

A  cres. 
2  490 

$26  551  000 

Finland                                                                     

1,850 

14,  970,  000 

Sweden 

952 

34,770,000 

Norway                                                                      

762 

9,585.000 

United  States 

620 

13,450,000 

Russia  (Europe)                                    /    

462 

23,039,000 

Bosnia-Herzegovina 

405 

2,632,500 

Bulgaria                                                            

230 

b  S407.000 

Servia 

155 

b  148.000 

Roumania                                       

127 

961,000 

Hungary  

116 

Austria              

91 

Japan 

91 

126,000 

Importing  countries. 
Greece 

85 

873,000 

66 

3,653,000 

German  Empire 

61 

48,750,000 

61 

19,270,000 

Italy                                                                                                  

32 

5,964,000 

25 

4,817,000 

Belgium                                                                                   

20 

16,330,000 

10 

5,945,000 

Great  Britain                                                                 

7 

93,950,000 

a  R.  Zon.    Forest  Service  Circular  159:  The  Future  Use  of  Land  in  the  United  States. 
6  Average  for  five  years,  1895-1899. 

c  Timber  land  largely  in  mountains  and  difficult  of  access.    These  countries  will  in  Lime  become  export- 
ers Instead  of  Importers. 


THE  FOEEST  RESOURCES  OF  THE  WORLD. 


75 


DIVISION  INTO  EXPORTING  AND  IMPORTING  COUNTRIES. 

Since  there  are  more  statistics  available  for  the  countries  of  Europe 
than  for  others,  they  are  first  considered  in  detail  in  the  order  in 
which  they  occur  in  the  following  outline : 

1 .  Import  countries. — These  may  be  subdivided  into  the  four  follow- 
ing groilps,  according  to  the  reasons  for  their  being  import  countries : 

(a)  Countries  which,  with  a  highly  developed  forest  management 
and  important  forest  possessions,  themselves  produce  much  wood, 
but  in  spite  of  this,  on  account  of  their  important  industries,  can  not 
do  without  foreign  wood:  German  Empire,   France,   Switzerland, 
Belgium. 

(b)  Countries  in  which  forest  management  plays  but  a  small  part 
on  account  of  the  small  forest  area:     Great  Britain,  Netherlands, 
Denmark. 

(c)  Countries  with  only  slightly  developed  forest  management  and 
little  wood  consumption:  Italy,  Spain,  Portugal,  Greece. 

(d)  Countries  with  relatively  large  forest  areas,  which,  however, 
are  in  large  part  not  yet  fully  developed,  unequally  distributed,  or 
poorly  managed :  Servia,  Bulgaria. 

2.  Export  wuntries. — These  are  Russia  (with  Finland),  Sweden, 
Norway,   Austria-Hungary    (with   Bosnia-Herzegovina),    and   Rou- 


mama. 


IMPORTING  COUNTRIES. 


EUROPE. 


GERMAN    EMPIRE. 


Germany  is  unable  to  produce  enough  timber  to  satisfy  its  needs, 
and  there  is  no  doubt  this  condition  will  continue  in  the  future. 

Since  1863  the  imports  have  exceeded  exports,  and  the  difference 
between  them  has  been  growing  steadily,  as  shown  in  the  two  follow- 
ing tables. 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  since  1899  Austria-Hungary  has  taken 
Russia's  place  as  the  chief  wood  supplier  of  Germany.  This  is 
largely  due  to  the  greater  development  of  the  sawmill  industry  in 
Austria-Hungary,  and  to  the  fact  that  railroad  communication  is 
much  better.  Russia  exports  nearly  all  material  by  water. 

If  the  average  yearly  import  of  the  period  1880-1884  is  taken  as  a 
standard  equal  to  100,  then  imports  have  increased  as  follows: 

Increase  of  exports,  taking  the  period  of  1880-1884  as  a  standard  of  100. a 


Year  average  of  — 

Russia. 

Austria- 
Hungary. 

Sweden. 

United 
States. 

Norway. 

1880-1884                                              

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

1885-1887                                                           

129 

113 

134 

156 

109 

1888-1896                                     

166 

156 

244 

514 

111 

1897  1901                                                    

201 

a283 

358 

1,950 

127 

1902                                                                       

150 

245 

359 

2,060 

109 

1903                                                       

206 

285 

371 

2,571 

111 

a  Endres,  loc.  cit. 


76 


THE  FOREST  EESOURCES   OF    THE   WORLD. 
Total' timber  imports  and  exports  of  Germany. a 


Imports. 

*  — 
Exports. 

Excess  of  imports. 

Tons.b 

Value. 

Tons. 

Value. 

Tons. 

Value. 

18C2-1865.  .  . 

1,314.000 

1,181,000 
897,000 

133,000 
1,084,000 
2,480,000 
2,007,000 
1,259,000 
1,752,000 
2,  749,  000 
4,308,000 
3,590,000 
4,426,000 
4,726,000 

1866-1871           .                  .       . 

1,981,000 
3,633,000 
3,190,000 
1,990,000 
2,253,000 
3,051.000 
4,637,000 
3,932.000 
4,797,000 
5,049,000 

1872-187o 

§43,'875,"666" 
22,400,000 
22,400,000 
36,575,000 
63,800,000 
46,400,000 
55,125,000 
59,475,000 

1,153,000 
1,183,000 
731,000 
501,000 
302,000 
329,000 
342,000 
371,000 
323,000 

$17,  '566  "666" 
10,000,000 
6,425,000 
4,050,000 
5,550,000 
5,575.000 
6,175,000 
5,825,000 

"J2(5,'375,"666 
12,400,000 
15,975,000 
32,  525,  000 
58.250,000 
40,825.000 
48,950,000 
53,650  000 

1876-1878  

1879-1884 

1885-1887  

1888-1896 

1897-1901  .  .  . 

1902 

1903 

1904. 

a  Endres:  Handbuch  der  Forstpolitik. 

&  In  this  and  the  following  tables  40  cubic  feet  is  a  fair  equivalent  for  1  ton. 

Percentage  of  imports  from  most  important  countries  which  export  to  Germany. a 


Year  average  of— 

Russia. 

Austria- 
Hungary. 

Sweden. 

United 
.States. 

Norway. 

1880-84 

Per  cent. 
46.6 

Per  cent. 
37.0 

Per  cent. 
7.3 

Per  cent. 
0.7 

Per  cent. 
2.4 

1885-87  

49.8 

34.6 

8.1 

.8 

2.1 

1888-96 

47.4 

35.4 

10.9 

2.4 

'  1.6 

1897-1901  

37.8 

42.1 

10.6 

5.9 

1.2 

1902 

35.3 

43.0 

12.5 

7.4 

1.2 

1903  .v  

37.5 

41.1 

10.6 

7.5 

1.0 

a  Endres,  loc.  cit. 

A  glance  at  the  above  tables,  with  the  knowledge  that  the  forest 
resources  of  Germany  are  and  have  long  been  developed  to  their 
highest  capacity,  plainly  indicates  that  Germany's  imports  will  con- 
tinue to  rapidly  increase.  Her  competition  will  be  a  large  factor  in 
bidding  for  any  surplus  timber  in  the  future,  and  it  must  not  be 
lost  sight  of  in  considering  the  possible  sources  of  supply  for  the 
United  States. 


FRANCE. 


A  consideration  of  the  following  table  shows  that  France  will  cer- 
tainly continue  to  import,  but  the  net  imports  are  not  appreciably 
increasing,  since  the  population  is  about  stationary,  while  the  indus- 
tries were  already  well  established  in  1875.  The  forest  area  is  being 
extended,  and  coppice  is  being  converted  into  high  forest,  so  the 
imports  will  probably  not  increase  to  any  extent  for  a  number  of 
years,  but  with  growing  industries  they  will  certainly  not  decrease, 
and  France  will  continue  to  be  an  important  factor  in  competing  for 
the  surplus  timber  of  the  export  countries. 


THE   FOREST  RESOURCES   OF   THE   WORLD. 
Imports  and  exports  of  France. ° 


77 


Year. 

Imports. 

Exports. 

Excess  of  imports. 

Tons. 

Value. 

Tons. 

Value. 

Tons. 

Value. 

1875.  . 

$32,820,000 
55,600,000 

$8,280,000 
6,960,000 

$24,540,000 
48,640,000 
26,560,000 
23,000,000 
17,140,000 
25,480,000 
26,040,000 
24,500,000 
21,720,000 
22,700,000 

1880.  .  .  . 

1885  

1890. 

31,780,000 
31,580,000 
26,020,000 

5,220,000 
8,580,000 
8,880,000 

1895  

1900  -    
1901  JV---- 
1902  ••  
1903               lB| 

1,658,000 
1,667,000 
1,584,000 
1,571,000 

35,400,000 
35,620,000 
33,820,000 
32,560,000 
33,480,000 

1,123,000 
982,000 
935,000 
1,052,000 

9,920,000 
9,580,000 
9,320,000 
10,840,000 
10,  780,  000 

535,000 
685,000 
649,000 
519,000 

1004        --*E 

a  Endres,  loc.  cit. 

France  gets  most  of  its  sawed  timber  from  Kussia,  Sweden,  Norway, 
Austria,  and  America.  /  > 

SWITZERLAND. 

The  following  table  shows  that  Switzerland,  with  its  carefully 
managed  and  productive  forests,  is  still  increasing  imports  yearly 
with  the  development  of  industries,  and  must  be  reckoned  with  as  a 
competitor  in  future  bidding  ft 


Imports  arii 


'  Switzerland.0 


Year. 

Imports. 

Exports. 

Excess  of  imports. 

Tons. 

Value. 

Tons. 

Value. 

Tons. 

Value. 

1878...            ...«.  . 

180,000 
214,000 
255,000 
273,000 
266,000 
278,000 
285,000 

$1,160,000 

1887. 

1895 

$2,580,000 
3,160,000 
2,  680,  000 
2,840,000 
3,140,000 

54,000 
64,000 
79,000 
77,000 
64,000 

380,000 
520,000 
660,000 
640,000 
500,000 

201,000 
209,000 
187,000 
201,000 
221,000 

$2,200,000 
2,640,000 
2,020,000 
2,200,000 
2,640,000 

1900. 

1901 

1902. 

1903 

a  Endres,  loc.  cit. 


The  percentage  of  firewood  constitutes  over  half  of  the  total  import, 
most  of  which  comes  from  southern  Germany  and  France.  The 
import  of  sawed  material  exceeds  that  of  logs,  and  most  of  it  comes 
from  Austria-Hungary. 


BELGIUM. 


The  net  imports  of  Belgium  are  surprisingly  large  when  the  small 
area  of  the  country  is  considered,  and  they  are  increasing  at  a  rapid 
rate.  In  the  future  they  will  certainly  continue  to  increase  and  help 
swell  the  demand  of  western  Europe  for  wood  from  foreign  countries. 


- 


78 


THE  FOREST  RESOURCES   OF   THE   WORLD. 
Imports  and  exports  of  Belgium. ° 


Year. 

Imports. 

Exports. 

Excess  of 
imports. 

1870 

$4  480  000 

$590  000 

$3  960  000 

1880.  . 

11,  GOO'  ooo 

2  200  000 

9  400  000 

1890 

14  080  000 

2  660  000 

11  420  000 

1896.. 

18,300  000 

1900 

26  940  000 

2  980  000 

23  960  000 

1901  

26,  520,  000 

2  800  000 

23  720  000 

1902 

26  860  000 

660  000 

26  200  000 

1903  

6  27,  960,  000 

580  000 

2~'  380  000 

a  Endres,  loc.  cit. 


6  Represents  68,835,000  cubic  feet. 


Sweden  is  the  chief  source  of  imports;  then  come  Russia,  Germany, 
and  France. 


GREAT    BRITAIN. 


Great  Britain,  on  account  of  its  scarcity  of  forests,  its  highly  devel- 
oped industries,  and  its  great  coal  production,  imports  more  wood 
than  any  other  country  in  the  world.  The  English  wood  consump- 
tion has  an  influence  on  the  lumber  trade  of  the  whole  world  and  also 
on  the  price  of  lumber;  therefore  the  inevitable  increase  in  it  is  of 
great  interest  to  the  United  States,  especially  in  view  of  the  amount 
of  imports  from  Canada. 

Imports  of  Great  Britain.0 


Year. 

Quantity. 

Value. 

1880 

Cubicfeet. 
321,159,400 

1890 

360,236  500 

877  600  000 

1900 

496,  247,  400 

125,484  050 

1901 

497  021  000 

109  129  850 

1902 

498,718,400 

122,156,950 

1903 

522  581  200 

131  522  300 

1904                                                    .   .                                             .   . 

458,900,000 

Endres,  loc.  cit. 


The  greatest  imports  are  in  sawed  and  hewn  wood.  Scandinavia 
furnishes  one-third  of  the  imports,  Russia  one-fourth,  and  America 
one-fifth.  The  export  is  practically  nothing. 


DENMARK    AND    NETHERLANDS. 


These  countries  have  such  small  areas  in  forest  as  compared  with 
their  population  that  imports  of  timber  are  certain  to  increase,  as  they 
have  steadily  done  in  the  last  few  years. 


ITALY. 


The  imports  of  Italy  have  slowly  increased  for  some  years,  and  the 
increase  in  population  and  development  of  industries  will  certainly 
more  than  offset  any  increased  production  of  the  forests,  which  are 
now  mostly  coppice  and  managed  under  a  short  rotation. 


THE  FOREST  RESOURCES   OF   THE   WORLD. 


79 


SPAIN,    PORTUGAL,    AND   GREECE. 

In  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  industries  of  these  countries  are  as  yet 
scarcely  developed,  the  forests  can  not  supply  the  small  consumption 
of  .wood.  As  mines  and  other  industries  are  developed  the  imports 
must  increase  rapidly  and  help  make  the  European  deficit  of  timber 
much  greater  than  at  present,  for  the  forest  area  per  capita  is  extremely 
small. 

TURKEY,  BULGARIA,    AND   SERVIA. 

These  countries  import  timber  in  increasing  amounts,  although 
they  are  well  wooded  and  industries  are  undeveloped.  There  is  no 
question  that  their  forest  areas  are  sufficiently  extensive  to  supply 
the  home  consumption  were  they  under  rational  management  and 
transportation  facilities  developed.  But  by  the  time  these  improve- 
ments are  brought  about  consumption  will  be  much  greater  tnan  at 
present,  and  the  wasteful  methods  now  in  force  wifl  have  greatly 
reduced  the  productive  power  of  the  forests.  Considering  the  above 
facts,  it  seems  safe  to  predict  a  continuation  of  the  timber  imports 
for  some  years  at  least. 

EXPORTING  COUNTRIES. 
EUROPE. 

AUSTRIA-HUNGARY. 

We  now  come  to  the  exporting  countries  of  Europe.  Since  the 
annual  cut  is  greater  than  the  annual  growth,  it  is  evident  that  the 
exports  of  Austria-Hungary  must  be  reduced,  for  the  forests  are 
nearly  all  under  careful  management  and  their  productivity  can  be 
increased  only  to  a  limited  extent.  As  seen  below,  the  exports  have 
steadily  increased  and  may  continue  to  do  so  for  some  years,  but  not 
for  long. 

Wood  export  of  Austria- Hungary. a 


Year. 


Exports. 


Tons. 


Value. 


Imports. 


Tons.         Value. 


Excess  of  exports. 


Tons. 


Value. 


1885. 
1890. 
1895. 
1900. 
1901. 
1902. 
1903. 


1,746,000 
2,258,000 
2,457,000 
2,398,000 
4.237,000 
3,903,000 
3,605,000 
4,238,000 


$17,920,000 
25,280,000 
25,080,000 
26.280,000 
51,280,000 
44,520,000 
39,720.000 
46,960,000 


173,000 
223,000 
210,000 
156,000 
252,000 
268,000 
237,000 
267,000 


?92(  1.000 
1,400,000 
,960,000 
,480,000 
,800,000 
,760,000 
,720,000 
,840,000 


1,573,000 
2,035,000 
2,247,000 
2,242,000 
3,985,000 
3,635,000 
3,368,000 
3,971,000 


$17,000,000 
23,880,000 
23,120,000 
24,800,000 
49,480,000 
42,760,000 
38,000,000 
45,120,000 


Year. 


Exported  to— 


Ger- 
many. 


Italy. 


Russia. 


Balkan 
countries. 


Switzer- 
land. 


1885. 
1890. 
1895. 
1900. 
1901. 
1902. 
1903. 


Per  cent. 
33 
43 
50 
62 
60 
51 
54 


Percent. 
14 
11 
18 
14 
16 
18 
17 


Percent. 
6 
7 
10 
6 
9 
11 
10 


Per  cent. 
17 
11 
10 
6 
7 
8 


Per  cent. 
2.7 
2.7 
3.1 
2.4 
2.4 
3.0 
2.9 


Endres,  loc,  cit. 


80 


THE  FOREST  RESOURCES   OF   THE   WORLD. 


RUSSIA. 

The  forests  of  Russia  are  capable  of  permanently  producing  much 
more  timber  than  is  now  cut  from  them.  In  fact,  the  generally 
increasing  deficit  of  wood  in  Europe  must  be  met  in  large  part  from 
Russia.  The  following  table  shows  how  the  exports  of  Russia  have 
increased : 

Russian  exports  to  different  countries.11 


Year. 

Tons. 

Value. 

Year. 

Exported  to— 

England. 

Germany. 

Holland. 

France. 

1885 

$13,230,000 
15,100,000 
23,360,000 
29,165,000 
28,625,000 
27,700,000 
32,650,000 

1894 

Per  cent. 
50 
46 
40 
41 
43 

Per  cent. 
24 
28 
35 
32 
30 

Per  cent. 
9 
8 
10 
12 
12 

Per  cent. 
8 

8 
7 

7 
7 

1890 

1895 

1896      

1897 

1900 

1900 

1901  

1901.     . 

1902 

3,4(iO,000 
4,090,000 

1903  

a  Endres,  loc.  cit. 


Russia's  imports  are  limited  to  the  southern  parts,  and  are  mainly 
from  Austria  and  Roumania.  In  1901  the  total  imports  were  756,600 
tons,  with  a  value  of  $4,560,000. 


FINLAND. 


Finland  can  no  doubt  increase  her  exports  considerably,  for  the 
private  forests  cut  but  0.2  of  a  cubic  foot  per  acre  more  than  the 
annual  growth,  while  the  38.7  per  cent  of  the  forests  which  the  State 
controls  do  not  cut  nearly  so  much  as  the  growth.  The  following 
table  shows  the  rapid  development  of  the  sawmill  industry  in  recent 
years : 

Development  of  the  sawmill  industry,  by  years.® 


1870. 

1886. 

1890. 

1892. 

1895. 

1896. 

1899. 

'NuTnhp.r  of  sawmjlls 

132 

245 

341 

376 

427 

464 

460 

Endres,  loc.  cit. 


In  1899,  248  sawmills  were  run  by  steam  and  212  by  water.     Six- 
teen thousand  workmen  were  employed. 

Exports  of  Finland.** 


Year. 

Quantity. 

Value. 

Year. 

Quantity. 

Value. 

1860 

Cubicfeet. 

$1,920,000 

1885  

Cubicfeet. 
79,  425,  (XX) 

$7,880,000 

1865 

3  740  000 

1895  

122,491,000 

12,200,000 

1870 

2,640,000 

1901  

164,851,000 

20,300,000 

1875 

7,540,000 

1902  

168,381,000 

21,620,000 

1880 

11,140,000 

1903  

211,800,000 

26,200,000 

a  Endres,  loc.  cit. 


THE   FOEEST  RESOURCES   OF   THE   WORLD. 


81 


SWEDEN. 


Sweden's  annual  cut  is  less  than  the  annual  growth,  and  the  forests 
may  be  expected  to  supply  the  home  demands  and  allow  the  country 
to  continue  to  increase  exports  to  some  extent.  The  following  table 
shows  the  rate  of  increase  in  them  of  late  years : 

Exports  of  Sweden. a 


Year  average  of— 

Quantity. 

Value. 

Year  average  of— 

Quantity. 

Value. 

1871-1875... 

Cubic  feet. 
116,490,000 

$21,175,000 

1897... 

Cubicfeet. 
246  750  000 

«O7     fiflfl    flAT| 

1876-1880  

130,  960,  000 

22,075  000 

1898 

236  Ifif)  fVX) 

1881-1885  

161,670  000 

24  125  000 

1899 

1886-1890  

183,  560,  000 

24,  625,  000 

1900 

245  690  000 

1891-1895  

210,  040,  000 

28  275  000 

1901 

2i  q  qon  non 

1896  

235,800,000 

32,  975,  000 

1903 

243  570  000 

a  Endres,  loc.  cit. 

Great  Britain  takes  about  half  of  the  Swedish  exports,  then  come 
France,  Denmark,  Germany,  Netherlands,  Cape  Colony,  Australia, 
and  South  America.  Planed  boards  go  chiefly  to  Netherlands,  Cape 
Colony,  England,  and  Australia. 

The  large  number  of  floatable  streams  in  Sweden  have  been  impor- 
tant factors  in  enabling  it  to  take  one  of  the  foremost  places  in  the 
world's  timber  market.  The  wood  industry  has  been  intensively 
developed.  In  1898  there  were  1,030  saw  and  planing  mills,  which 
employed  40,700  workmen;  in  addition  there  were  501  other  wood- 
working establishments,  with  22,300  workmen;  as  motive  power,  507 
turbines,  706  steam  engines,  and  178  electric  motors  were  used. 


NORWAY. 


The  forests  of  Norway  are  now  being  overcut,  so  that  the  exports, 
which  have  not  increased  much  since  1870,  will  evidently  decrease  in 
the  future. 

Exports  of  Norway,  by  amounts  and  values.® 


Year. 

Quantity. 

Value. 

1870.  .  . 

Cubicfeet. 
67,211.000 

1876-1880 

63,964  000 

1886-1890.  .  . 

65,  517,  000 

$7,875,000 

1895  

59,  128,  000 

6  900  000 

1900 

70,671  000 

10  675  000 

1901  

63,717,000 

8,900,000 

1902       .   . 

69,  259,  000 

9  575  000 

1903 

75,260  000 

11  125  000 

1904  

63,  434,  000 

9,075,000 

a  Endres,  loc.  cit. 

Exports  of  wood-pulp  material  are  also  very  important,  and  in 
1904  reached  a  value  of  $7,500,000. 

55826°— Bull.  83—10 6 


82  THE  FOREST  RESOURCES   OF   THE   WORLD. 

The  exports  were  distributed  as  follows: 

Distribution  of  timber  exports  of  Norway. a 


Year. 

South 
Africa. 

Great 
Britain. 

Belgium. 

Nether- 
lands. 

France. 

Germany. 

Denmark. 

Australia. 

1881 

Per  cent. 

Per  cent. 
64  0 

Per  cent. 
2  8 

Per  cent. 
10  0 

Per  cent. 
10  0 

Per  cent. 
4  5 

Per  cent. 
4  3 

Per  cent. 

1887 

2.0 

63.4 

7.2 

6.6 

8.6 

4.3 

2  1 

3  3 

1898 

2  5 

57  0 

9  0 

9  0 

5  0 

5  0 

7  0 

1900  

2.1 

63.0 

8.4 

6.  1 

4.9 

4.5 

1  9 

5  9 

1901 

3.0 

63.0 

7.4 

4.9 

5.5 

3  9 

1  7 

6  G 

a  Endres,  loc.  cit. 

Small  amounts  of  timber  go  to  Sweden,  Iceland,  Spain,  and  Brazil. 


ROUMANIA. 


Satisfactory  data  as  to  the  cut  and  growth  of  forests  in  Romania 
can  not  be  had,  but  the  forest  area  per  capita  is  too  small  to  expect 
much  increase  in  export  in  the  future,  although  of  late  years  it  has 
grown  rapidly,  as  transportation  developed. 


SUMMARY   FOR    EUROPE. 


The  following  table  shows  the  great  increase  in  the  export  timber 
trade  of  the  world's  leading  export  countries. 

Value  of  export  timber  trade  of  leading  export  countries. a 


Country. 

Average  of  years  — 

1881-1890. 

1891-1895. 

1896-1900. 

1901. 

1902. 

1903. 

Sweden 

$27,  100,  000 
9,350,000 
8,  700,  000 
16,925,000 
23,875,000 
21,375,000 
23,000,000 

$31,450,000 
7,850,000 
10,175,000 
22,  700,  000 
25,  800,  000 
21,250,000 
23,450,000 

$40,  675,  000 
11,325,000 
17,500,000 
29,250,000 
42,  500,  000 
40,300,000 
27,825,000 

$37,250,000 
10,000,000 
20,300,000 
30,900,000 
47,300,000 
41,375,000 
29,850,000 

$38,  750,  000 
10,750,000 
21,625,000 
29,925,000 
42,200,000 
52,075,000 
33,500,000 

$41,500,000 
14,  000,  (XX) 
26,  250,  000 
35,  250,  (XX) 
49,900,000 
51,  550,  (XX) 
31,400,000 

Norway    . 

Finland 

Russia  

Austria-Hungary     ... 

United  States  

Canada  . 

Total 

130,  325,  000 

142,675,000 

209,375,000 

216,975,000 

228,825,000 

249,850,000 

a  Endres,  loc.  cit. 

In  1903  the  total  import  of  Europe  was  1,164,900,000  cubic  feet,0 
and  the  total  export  1,023,700,000  cuoic  feet,  showing  an  excess  import 
of  141,200,000  cubic  feet. 

This  balance  is  made  up  chiefly  from  Canada  and  the  United  States. 
A  brief  summary  of  Europe  leads  to  the  following  conclusions: 

1.  The  leading  import  countries,  Great  Britain,  Germany,  France, 
Belgium,  Switzerland,   etc.,   are  rapidly  increasing  the  amount  of 
their  imports,  and  this  increase  is  certain  to  continue. 

2.  Russia,  Finland,  and  Sweden  only  of  the  export  countries  can 
increase  to  any  great  extent  their  export  without  reducing  their  tim- 
ber capital. 


Endres,  loc.  cit. 


THE   FOREST  RESOURCES   OF   THE   WORLD. 


83 


3.  Norway  and  Austria-Hungary  are  already  overcutting,  and  will 
in  all  probability  have  to  reduce  their  exports  in  the  future. 

In  view  of  these  facts,  with  the  rising  prices  of  timber,  it  is  certain 
that  any  increased  exports  from  Russia,  Finland,  and  Sweden  will 
be  eagerly  competed  for  by  Great  Britain,  France,  Germany,  etc., 
and  there  will  be  no  surplus  of  any  consequence  for  the  United  States, 
handicapped  as  it  is  by  greater  distance,  and  hence  greater  cost  for 
transportation.  Hence  in  case  of  a  failure  of  our  timber  resources, 
we  must  look  to  other  than  the  European  countries  for  a  source  of 
supply. 

AFRICA. 


EGYPT. 


Egypt  has  no  forests  in  the  true  sense  of  the  word,  but  is  interest- 
ing as  a  buyer.  The  industrial  development  and  railroad  building 
which  the  last  few  years  have  seen  in  Egypt,  and  which  give  every 
sign  of  continuing,  will  certainly  result  in  increased  demand  for 
timber.  The  following  table  shows  the  important  increase  of  it  in 
late  years. 

Imports  of  Egypt. a 


Year  average. 

Structural 
timber. 

Firewood. 

Quantity. 

Value. 

1885-1889 

$1,547.000 
2,161,500 
2,481,500 
2,122,000 
2,  505,  500 
3.170,500 
3,213,500 

Cubic  feet. 

1890-1894  

3,187,000 
2,355,000 

$220,000 
136,000 

1895 

18% 

1897 

1898 

1899   .                               

a  From  A.  A.  Raclzig,  [Forests  and  Forestry  in  Various  Countries,  a  Statistical  Investigation].    St.  Peters- 
burg, 1902. 

SOUTH  AFRICA. 

The  forests  of  South  Africa  are  entirely  inadequate  to  supply 
home  needs,  and  the  imports  are  certain  to  continue  to  increase  with 
the  population  and  industrial  development. 

Imports  of  Cape  Colony  and  Natal.a 


Year. 

Cape 
Colony. 

Natal. 

1890-18Q5                                                                   

$575,500 

$417,000 

1895-1899                                                                                     

859,000 

876,000 

From  A.  A.  Radzig,  loc.  cit. 


These  imports  amount  to  5,000,000  cubic  feet,  the  annual  average 
for  the  years  1895-1899.  The  following  countries  sent  in  1895  to 
South  Africa  the  amounts  shown  on  page  84. 


84 


THE  FOREST  RESOURCES   OF   THE  WORLD. 
Exports  to  South  Africa. 


Country. 

Quantity. 

Country. 

Quantity. 

Sweden  .  .                 

Cubic  feet. 
2,  4G5.  777 

India  and  Burma 

Cubic  feet. 
5<>  679 

Norway 

1,041,327 

New  Zealand 

32  548 

United  States  

1,020,144 

South  Africa  

1,592 

Great  Britain  ...                 

183,  121 

CENTRAL   AFRICA. 


The  forests  of  Central  Africa  are  little  known,  but  their  area  is  not 
so  great  as  commonly  supposed,  and  the  chief  species  of  commercial 
value  are  expensive  hard  woods,  which  have  no  bearing  on  the  ques- 
tion of  the  supply  of  common  timber  for  the  United  States. 


NORTH   AFRICA. 


The  countries  of  North  Africa,  other  than  Egypt,  have  barely  suffi- 
cient forest  for  the  low  home  consumption,  except  Algeria,  which  has 
already  had  to  import  timber.  With  increased  railroad  building 
and  general  development  this  import  will  increase. 

Imports  of  Algeria. 


Year  average. 


Value. 


1890-1894. 
1895-1899. 


$813, 500 
814,000 


A  review  of  Africa  shows,  then,  a  timber  import  destined  to  in- 
crease in  the  future  in  all  but  the  central  part,  which  is  utterly  unde- 
veloped and  can  export  only  costly  woods. 

ASIA  (EXCLUSIVE  OF  SIBERIA). 


CHINA. 


The  reasons  why  China  will  continue  to  import  in  rapidly  increasing 
amounts  have  been  fully  brought  out;  that  it  will  take  the  surplus  of 
eastern  Siberia  and  continue  to  draw  on  the  United  States  and 
Canada  is  certain. 

Imports  of  structural  timber  of  China. 


Year  average. 

Value. 

Year  average. 

Value. 

1867-1870                                      

$261,500 

1885-1889  

$744,000 

1871  1875 

440,500 

1890-1894     

1,074,500 

1876-1879 

616  500 

1895-1899                        

1,201,000 

1880-1884 

592,  000 

PERSIA. 


The  forests  of   Persia  are  limited  in  extent  and  do  not  produce 
woods  of  common  use  to  an  extent  to  supply  any  timber  for  export. 


THE   FOREST  RESOURCES   OF   THE   WORLD. 

CEYLON,    STRAITS    SETTLEMENTS,    INDO-CHINA,    ETC. 


85 


These  minor  countries  of  Asia  are  too  little  known  and  their  for- 
ests are  too  little  explored  to  give  any  basis  for  definite  predictions. 
However,  it  may  be  said  in  a  general  way  that  they  will  not  develop 
sufficiently  for  many  years  to  import  much  structural  timber  and  their 
exports  are  solely  of  valuable  woods  which  are  not  important  in  this 
discussion. 


BRITISH   INDIA. 


The  exports  of  India  consist  of  teak  and  other  valuable  woods,  and 
it  is  found  necessary  to  import  structural  timber.  Thus  India,  while 
an  export  country  from  the  point  of  view  of  value,  is  an  import  coun- 
try if  only  common  woods  be  considered,  and  will  no  douot  so  con- 
tinue, for  any  greater  supply  made  available  by  better  transportation 
facilities  will  be  offset  by  greater  consumption,  following  develop- 
ment of  industries.  The  following  table  gives  the  exports  of  India 
for  1903-4,  and  shows  the  kind  of  forest  products  exported. 

Exports  of  India,  1903-4  a 


Material. 

Quantity. 

Value. 

Caoutchouc  

Tons. 
90 

$115,  732 

Lac 

11,781 

9,079  320 

Sandal  ebonv  and  other  ornamental  woods 

403  163 

Cutch  and  gambler            .  .                              .          ....                .... 

5,652 

657,904 

Myrobolans 

61  480 

1  403  429 

Teak  timber  

73,913 

3,  048,  536 

Cardamoms 

128 

112,538 

Total                                                                      .      .             

4,820,622 

a  Schlich,  Forest  Policy. 
JAPAN. 

Conflicting  figures  are  given  by  different  statisticians  on  the  timber 
trade  of  Japan,  according  to  how  much  they  include  under  timber. 
If  only  structural  timber  is  considered,  Japan  is  an  importing  coun- 
try by  a  small  margin,  while  if  all  woods  be  considered  it  is  an  export- 
ing country.  Japan  can  supply  home  needs  when  all  the  forests  are 
accessible,  but  will  probably  not  be  able  to  export  any  saw-log  timber. 
Certainly  this  country  can  not  look  for  any  supplies  from  Japan,  for 
any  surplus  will  in  all  probability  go  to  Manchuria,  since  the  shorter 
distance  and  Japan's  interest  in  developing  that  country  would  enable 
it  to  outbid  the  United  States.  The  following  table  gives  the  exports 
and  imports  of  wood  and  wood  products,  except  match  wood,  in 
recent  years. 

Value  of  exports  and  imports  of  Japan.0 


1892. 

1896. 

1900. 

1901. 

1902. 

1903. 

1904. 

Export 

$135,  000 

$460,000 

$980,  000 

$655,000 

$660,000 

$980,000 

$1,335,000 

Import  

40,000 

145,000 

450,000 

355,000 

380,000 

335,000 

255,000 

Net  exports 

95,000 

315,000 

530,000 

300,000 

280,000 

645,000 

1,080,000 

a  Endres,  loc.  cit. 


86 


THE  FOKEST  RESOURCES   OF   THE  WORLD. 


AUSTRALASIA. 

There  is  a  difference  of  opinion  as  to  whether  poor  condition  result- 
ing from  abuse  or  inaccessibility  is  the  cause  of  the  insufficiency  of 
Australasia's  forests  to  supply  home  needs  at  present.  In  any  case, 
the  imports  are  sure  to  continue  to  increase  for  some  years,  and  it  is 
very  unlikely  that  any  surplus  timber  for  export  will  ever  be  pro- 
duced. The  following  table  gives  the  net  exports  or  imports  of  each 
of  the  colonies  for  the  period  1894-1899: 

Value  of  net  exports  and  imports  by  colonies. a 


Net 
exports. 

Net 
imports. 

Western  Australia  

$789,500 

Victoria 

$1,364  000 

New  Zealand  

758,500 

New  South  Wales 

1  344  000 

Tasmania 

154  500 

South  Australia 

1  003  500 

Queensland 

29  000 

Total 

3  711  500 

Total  

1,731,500 

Total  net  exports 

1,731,500 

Net  imports  of  all  Australasia 

1  980  000 

a  From  A.  A.  Radzig,  loc.  cit. 


HAWAII. 


Hawaii,  with  only  about  1,175,000  acres  of  forest,  and  developing 
industries,  can  export  only  a  trifling  amount  of  timber. 


THE    PHILIPPINES. 


The  Philippine  Islands  contain  about  49,000,000  acres  of  wooded 
land,  and  the  estimate  per  acre  given  is  2,500  board  feet,  which  gives 
a  total  of  122,500,000,000  board  feet  of  merchantable  timber.  The 
Philippines  import  timber  for  two  reasons — the  inaccessibility  of 
their  own  forests  at  present,  and  the  need  of  light,  easily  worked 
wood.  In  time,  as  transportation  is  developed  and  the  forests  are 
made  accessible,  the  native  forests  should  supply  nearly  all  the  home 
consumption,  and  leave  enough  over  for  export  to  equal  or  surpass 
the  quantity  imported  of  certain  classes  of  timber  which  are  not 
found  in  the  islands.  But  owing  to  the  small  amount  of  total  stand, 
and  the  fact  that  there  are  only  about  2  acres  per  capita  in  commer- 
cial forest,  the  increase  in  consumption  with  development  of  indus- 
tries and  increase  in  population  will  prevent  the  timber  export 
from  ever  being  an  important  factor  in  supplying  the  United  States. 


SUMMARY  FOR  ASIA. 


A  brief  summary  of  Asia  results  in  the  following  conclusions: 
(1)  China  and  Australasia  are  import  countries;  the  imports  of 
the  former  will  increase  rapidly,  while  Australasia  will  probably  not 
increase  the  amount  of  her  import  much;  (2)  Japan  and  India 
export  valuable  woods  and  import  structural  timber;  (3)  these  coun- 
tries will  be  buyers  of  saw-log  timber,  and  can  not  be  counted  on  as 
possible  sources  of  supply  for  the  United  States,  but  must  be  regarded 
rather  as  possible  competitors;  (4)  the  Philippines,  though  now  an 


THE   FOREST  RESOURCES   OF   THE   WORLD.  87 

importing  country,  should  be  able  to  export  sufficient  timber,  when 
the  wood  industry  is  developed,  to  offset  the  imports. 

TROPICAL  AND  SOUTH  AMERICA. 

MEXICO,  WEST  INDIES,  AND   CENTRAL  AMERICA. 

These  States  now  import  timber  not  so  much  because  they  have 
none,  but  for  the  reason  that  it  is  at  present  inaccessible.  Whether 
forest  exploitation  will  develop  as  rapidly  as  other  industries  and 
the  amount  of  imports  remain  stationary  or  be  reduced  or  whether 
they  will  increase  can  not  be  safely  predicted.  It  would  seem  that 
there  will  always  be  an  export  of  manogany,  cedar,  and  other  valu- 
able woods,  and  it  is  most  probable  that  there  will  continue  to  be  an 
import  of  common  woods. 


SOUTH   AMERICA. 


For  many  years  South  America  will  continue  to  export  hard  woods, 
dye  woods,  etc.,  and  import  lumber  and  construction  material. 
Eventually,  as  the  countries  develop,  the  great  forests  now  inacces- 
sible will  be  opened  up,  and  should  supply  home  consumption,  which 
will  have  increased  greatly  by  that  time.  The  imports  will  no  doubt 
not  increase  to  any  serious  extent,  but  are  more  likely  to  diminish. 
At  the  same  time,  the  exports  can  not  be  counted  on  as  a  source  of 
supply  for  this  country  for  the  reason  above  stated — that  by  the  time 
the  forests  are  accessible  the  country  will  have  developed  so  much 
that  home  consumption  will  have  greatly  increased,  and  also  because 
the  forests  are  so  situated  that  logging  and  transportation  will  be  so 
costly  as  to  prohibit  the  use  of  the  wood  for  construction  in  this 
country. 

NORTH   AMERICA. 


ALASKA. 


Alaska  has  approximately  107,000,000  acres  of  forest  land,  of 
which  37,000,000  acres,  situated  along  the  south  coast  and  the  river 
valleys,  bear  relatively  heavy  forests  of  valuable  species,  while  the 
remaining  70,000,000  occupy  the  interior  to  the  limit  of  tree  growth. 
The  interior  forest  consists  for  the  most  part  of  scattered  stands,  and 
only  from  50  to  75  per  cent  of  it  can  be  said  to  be  actually  forested. 
Estimating  these  stands  to  run  500  board  feet  to  the  acre,  the  interior 
forest  contains  not  over  21,000,000,000  feet,  board  measure.  This 
timber  runs  small  and  knotty,  and  is  insufficient  to  supply  the  needs 
of  the  mining  population,  largely  because  much  of  it  is  inaccessible 
with  the  present  means  of  transportation.  With  the  increasing  devel- 
opment of  mines  it  is  safe  to  assume  that  this  interior  forest  will 
continue  to  be  needed  for  local  consumption  and  may  fall  short  of 
supplying  it.  The  forests  of  the  south  coast  and  of  the  river  valleys, 
on  the  other  hand,  are  often  dense  and  the  trees  large.  Toward  the 
north  the  trees  fall  off  in  size  and  the  forest  gradually  assumes  the 
character  of  the  northern  forest.  Estimating  the  average  stand  per 
acre,  at  2,000  feet,  the  total  stand  for  this  forest  amounts  to 
75,000,000,000  feet,  board  measure,  not  quite  twice  the  annual  lumber 
cut  of  the  United  States.  In  this  part  of  Alaska  fisheries  and  oil 


88  THE  FOREST  RESOURCES   OF  THE  WORLD. 

developing  are  the  principal  industries,  so  that  the  home  consump- 
tion or  timber  is  not  so  great,  and  in  all  probability  this  region  may 
in  the  future,  when  transportation  is  developed,  be  able  to  export 
timber  to  the  United  States.  However,  owing  to  the  relatively  small 
amount  of  forest,  it  can  contribute  but  a  very  small  part  of  the  tim- 
ber used  by  this  country. 


CANADA. 


The  Canadian  forests  are  being  cut  and  burned  faster  than  they  are 
growing,  as  already  shown,  and  yet  the  exports  are  growing  steadily, 
as  shown  below: 

Yearly  average  and  values  of  exports  of  Canada. a 

1881-1890 $23,000,000 

1891-1895 23,450,000 

1896-1900 27,825,000 

1901 29,850,000 

1902 33,500,000 

1903 31,400,000 

In  1904  the  value  of  wood  imported  was  $9,000,000. 

It  is  evident,  then,  that  Canada,  the  only  country  which  the  United 
States  can  now  count  on  for  any  considerable  amount  of  timber,  will 
not  long  remain  a  source  of  supply  to  the  United  States. 

.> 

CONCLUSION. 

The  review  of  the  timber  trade  of  the  various  countries  of  the  world 
shows  a  steady  increase  in  wood  consumption  and  imports  of  nearly 
all  the  leading  import  countries,  anoTout  three  important  countries, 
Russia,  Finland,  and  Sweden,  which  can  increase  theirexport  without 
lessening  their  forest  capital.  This  increase  will  be  needed  in  western 
Europe  to  make  up  the  growing  deficit  there,  and  will  not  be  a 
source  of  supply  for  the  United  StatesV  Thus  the  tendency  is  toward 
a  greater  overcutting  of  timber  on  the'part  of  the  export  countries,  to 
make  up  the  increasing  deficit  of  the  import  countries,  which  policy, 
if  continued,  would  lead  to  a  universal  shortage,  with  no  surplus  to 
draw  upon.  This  picture,  gloomy  as  it  may  seem,  is  offset  by  the 
birth  or  a  new  economic  force — the  general  appreciation  of  the  value 
of  forests  and  the  movement  toward  the  introduction  of  rational 
forest  management  by  all  civilized  peoples.  There  is  no  doubt  what- 
ever that  there  is  enough  accessible  actual  and  potential  forest  land 
in  civilized  countries  to  produce,  under  proper  management,  an 
abundance  of  timber  to  supply  indefinitely  the  world's  growing 
demand. 

Doctor  Schlich  states,  in  his  Forest  Policy,  that  by  planting  up 
waste  lands  hi  Great  Britain  much  of  the  annual  import  could  be 
replaced  by  home-grown  timber.  If  any  material  results  can  be 
expected  in  Great  Britain,  this  country,  with  its  great  existing  forests 
and  large  amount  of  permanent  forest  land,  can  certainly  supply  its 
timber  needs.  Not  only  of  necessity,  in  view  of  the  lack  of  any 
adequate  foreign  source  of  supply,  but  also  from  national  pride  and 
the  desire  to  preserve  a  tremendous  native  industry,  the  United 

«  Endres,  loc.  cit. 


THE   FOREST  RESOURCES   OF   THE   WORLD.  89 

States  should  introduce  rational  forest  management.  At  present, 
forest  management  would  consist  in  large  part  of  conservative  treat- 
ment of  existing  forests  with  a  relatively  small  amount  of  planting. 
If  postponed  until  a  timber  shortage  forces  the  United  States  to 
action,  it  would  face  the  problem  of  the  slow  conversion  of  scrubby 
woodland  into  productive  forest  and  the  costly  planting  of  denuded 
wastes  on  a  very  large  scale.  While  the  present  area  of  wooded  land 
in  the  United  States  is  usually  estimated  as  545,000,000  acres,  some 
of  this  is  of  no  commercial  value,  and  much  is  inevitably  destined, 
with  the  increase  in  the  population  of  the  country,  to  be  cleared  for 
agriculture.  The  area  or  land  so  situated  as  to  be  permanent  forest 
land  is  about  450,000,000  acres,  of  which  100,000,000  will  con- 
sist of  farm  woodlots.  The  inevitable  increase  in  wood  consumption, 
following  increase  in  population  and  growth  of  industries,  will  thus 
have  to  be  supplied  from  a  diminished  forest  area.  Therefore,  the 
only  solution  of  the  problem  of  a  wood  supply  is  to  begin  now  to 
prepare  for  making^  a  diminished  forest  area  supply  an  increased 
population.  This "  means  that  the  land  should  be  surveyed  and 
classified  by  the  Government,  and  forest  management  applied  to  the 
permanent  forest  land  now — before  it  is  too  late.  ^ 

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